When I was in university, my writing teaching told us, “Scientists will tell you that the world is made up of atoms, but they’re wrong. The world is made up of stories.” As human beings we have a powerful need to hear and to tell our stories. So much of what drives us is this need to say “Here I am, this is me. This is my story.”

This same story telling can be a powerful tool even in non-fiction article writing. Recently I received a submission that displays this technique perfectly. Take a minute to read Beth Scholes’ “Lesson Learned Through Pursuing Adoption” post and you’ll see what I mean.

Beth weaves her story of pursuing, but ultimately not adopting a little girl named Cassie all through the lessons that God taught her. So often I see the opposite in submissions. People will tell part of the story and end it with “and God was there and He helped.” In Beth’s piece, God’s story is right there with hers, and intertwined with Cassie’s. The lessons themselves are not all grouped at the end, rather they are part of the story too.

I would love to hear how God is at work in your life and what you’ve been learning lately. If you want to keep my attention, and the attention of your readers, it’s really simple. Tell us a story.

Claire Colvin
Sr. Editor, TruthMedia

Go to Submissions page

It may be hard to believe, but Christmas is right around the corner! How the years fly by.

With the upcoming holiday season, there are always lots of opportunities to feature new and exciting content.  This time of year is a special time when we can reach out to the world around us via the written word.  We are asking that you, our authors would join with us in making an impact on those coming to the site.

Listed below are the Topics and Focuses for December 2009.  Be sure to take a look and then submit your work to us.  We thank you for using your giftings to further the ministry of TruthMedia.

December 2009

• 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks refusal to give up seat on bus
• Christmas
• Advent weeks 2, 3 & 4
• Christmas finances (why people overspend, staying within budget)
• Alternatives to retail gift giving
• Holiday traditions old and new
• Creating memories with loved ones
• Family issues (what causes, how to resolve)
• Loneliness during holidays (when going through a hard time, why is Christmas so hard?)
• Jesus being the real reason for Christmas
• How different cultures celebrate Christmas

A tip from us to you: vary your sentence and paragraph lengths.

Writers are like weavers: Paragraphs and sentences are your threads. People won’t often consciously notice the length of your threads. But they will notice the garment you create with them! If all your sentences are the same length, you may bore your reader or tire them out.

Throw in some short sentences. Maybe a single word. Or two. What about adding a question to spice things up?

The same advice holds true for your paragraphs. If your paragraphs are all the same length, you may bore your readers. Make them too long, and they will seem daunting. Too short, and they could be dismissed as depthless.

Max Lucado is a writer who is adept at using different sentence and paragraph lengths. Explore samples of his work at www.MaxLucado.com, and seek to keep your readers interested by diversifying the length of your sentences and paragraphs!

Take a look at our submissions guidelines here, and as always, be sure to submit your works here.

Return to main writing area

Once again we are calling all writers to submit fresh new content.  A new school year is fast approaching, and before we know it, Christmas will be upon us again.

We are looking for new content on a wide array of topics.

Take a look at our complete and recently updated Content Calendar, and then submit your article to us!  We look forward to reading your submissions!  We are accepting submissions for November until October 1 2009.

November 2009

• American Thanksgiving
• National Adoption Month
• Affect adoption has on family: siblings/extended
• Veteran’s Day/Remembrance Day
• Courage/Heroism
• Holiday Hospitality
• Family Dynamics
• Coping Strategies for stressful family situations
• American Thanksgiving
• The value of celebration from Christian perspective
• Being inclusive during celebrations (opening home to others)
• Love/acceptance/belonging
• Gratitude

There’s a lot of advice out there for writers. A Google search for “tips for writers” returns almost 23 million results!  I like a lot of Kurt Vonnegut’s advice.  He advises simply finding something you care about and starting from there:

“Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, and not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.”

Years ago, I found a list of 7 writing tips from Vonnegut that I still have pinned up on my office wall.  It comes from Palm Sunday where he wrote:

1.    Find a subject you care about,

2.    Do not ramble, though

3.    Keep it simple

4.    Have guts to cut

5.    Sound like yourself

6.    Say what you mean

7.    Pity the readers

All this time later, it’s still sound advice.  If you find a subject you really care about and say enough without saying too much, chances are excellent you’ll have a great piece on your hands.  And when you have that piece, I’d love to read it.

Happy writing,

Claire Colvin
Sr. Ed., TruthMedia

The world of the internet is fast paced, and standards for web writing are changing constantly.  There are though some specific points that one can implement to assure that one’s writing will meet internet standards for content.

Writing for an online audience has some distinct differences from writing for a written publication.  Our Senior Editor Claire Colvin addresses these issues in a resource article available online:

“People read a screen differently than they read a page, so simply typing out an article and posting it online won?t work. No one will read it. Fortunately, it is really easy to adapt an article to work online.

First of all be brief and very focused. Generally you have half the room online to tell your story than you would have on a printed page. People read 25% slower from a screen and many don’t read at all, they scan.”

The article goes on to take a further look at various aspects of writing for the web including how to make your work visually inviting, and how to attract your reader.  This is a valuable resource that we often refer back to, and is taken into account when selecting works to feaure on the sites.  Read the whole article here.

Return to main submissions page.

Welcome to our monthly updated Topics and Focuses Post.  This is the place to come for a monthly view of upcoming topics that the TruthMedia Content Team is going to be focusing on.  We are always on the lookout for new content from you, our authors!  Take a look at the topics on the the list (View our newly updated Content Calendar here) and then submit your work to us.  We are accepting submissions for October up until September 1st.

October Topics and Focuses:

• Halloween (where it comes from, why we don’t celebrate it, alternatives)
• Canadian Thanksgiving
• Mother in Law Day
• Breast Cancer Awareness Month
• Respecting the body God gave you (regular health check ups)
• Bonding with others in support groups (confiding in others)
• Why in times of sickness people gravitate towards spirituality
• Gratitude
• Volunteering/sharing with others (living by moral code)
• Cutting back due to economy (cut backs that can be made, effect on rest of the world)
• High standard of living in North America/people living with nothing at all in rest of world
• Christian community becoming more tangible in giving to others
• Wedges that arise in relationships/top reasons for marital issues

Today’s technology gives us instant feedback. We expect that we can reach anyone at any time, and that they can reach us. A few weeks ago I was at a family get-together, and my grandparents were late. We were worried that they couldn’t find the restaurant. Instinctively I pulled out my cell phone, but quickly realized my grandparents don’t have a cell phone of their own. We were dumbfounded: What do we do now? It’s hard to remember a time before we had the ability to contact anyone at any time, to be in constant communication, and get instant feedback.

The Internet provides another medium of instant feedback, by comments on blog posts or articles. Often comments we receive are positive. Occasionally a few will be negative. But what may be most disheartening are the times when there is no feedback at all. “Hello, is anybody out there?” we may feel like calling. “I’m pouring my heart and soul out here, does anyone care?”

At times like these, it’s helpful to recall a simple but powerful fact that ultimately our responsibility is to God. If you are serving Him faithfully, you have done our job. Even if some people don’t like what you say, you should not be worried if it honors God. As Paul said, explaining his mission: “Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.” Galatians 1:10, NLT

By the way, my grandparents were a little late arriving, but were able to find the restaurant just fine on their own. Unfortunately, in the meantime we lost my mom, who rushed out of the restaurant to look for them. Sometimes, we have to be patient and trust that God is in control. Although you cannot know definitively who your writing has reached, since we know now only in part, you will know fully someday everyone who your writing has impacted. We may not see the fruits of our labors, but if we are following faithfully how He has called us, we are living lives pleasing to Him. Be encouraged, because even without accolades from people, your Father in heaven is smiling down on you, saying to you “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

“Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more.” 1 Thessalonians 4:1, NLT

Lord, I pray that you would use the writing of these authors to engage minds, touch hearts, and change lives, even if we never know how You have chosen to use our words. Amen.

This week in the spotlight we have Karen Schenk’s article, “When Friends Fail”. Karen does an excellent job of treating a delicate, and unfortunately common experience with grace and compassion. She identifies with her readers without getting bogged down in maudlin details and offers both a spiritual perspective and hands-on next steps for her readers to take.

One of the things Karen does extremely well in this article is to include anecdotes that are not identifiable. An on going challenge for all personal experience writers is the task of writing your own story without telling someone else’s. We all know that if you’re going to name names in an article, you need permission. But sometimes we forget that a thinly veiled story is no better.

As Christian writers we have to be even more aware of this. Just as a “prayer request” that tells unnecessary details of someone else’s struggle is gossip, sacrificing another person’s character in the name of a good story example is not OK either. There’s a simple rule here – if you can’t tell your story without telling their story, then you have to put down your pen or choose anther topic.

Take a few minutes to read Karen’s article and you’ll see what I mean. She has succeeded in maintaining the emotion of the piece without dipping into sensationalism. By the end of the article she has equipped her reader to deal with the situation and there were no character casualties along the way.

Are there situations in your life that you are ready to write about? Many of the things we deal with are not unique, our struggles are common. If you are ready to tell your story without telling someone else’s be sure to look at the upcoming themes and focuses to see where you article can fit.
I look forward to reading your submissions!

Claire Colvin, Senior Editor

Return to submissions main page

Why does some writing seem to pop while other writing merely fizzle? Sometimes the difference is between choosing active voice instead of passive voice!

Here are some examples of passive voice (“Object has X done to it by Actor”) sentences:

1. The article was written by me.
2. As I opened the door, dripping could be heard.
3. The candy was purchased by the children.

Those sound a bit awkward! Try to turn passive voice sentences into active voice (“Actor does X to Object”):

1. I wrote the article.
2. As I opened the door, I heard dripping.
3. The children purchased the candy.

If you compare the second list to the first, you’ll find that the second list reads smoother. Look out for the word “was”, it often indicates a passive voice sentence. Also look for the word “by” following the subject of your sentence.

By choosing to use active voice in your writing you can really make it come alive for your readers, so try using it often!