I was honored to be a guest blogger for the 13th Annual Christy Awards in Orlando this past Monday night. It was a great evening. About 180 guests and nearly all of the nominated authors were there.
You can click here to read the blog in it’s entirety along with pictures.
But here are some excerpts from Allen Arnold, former VP of Publishing, Fiction Division at Thomas Nelson.
He changed jobs this year to be on staff at Ransom Heart, John Eldredge’s ministry.
Here’s what Allen had to say:
“We must gather to offer our stories as the bread and wine that sustains us.”
Arnold urges us to “walk with God well.” Trends are never the secret to success.
“In the end, God isn’t a God of stats, but each day He calls us to walk with him.”
“Partner with authors who have a deep relationship with Christ. It’s what grounds every story teller.”
Choose humility over being right.
Don’t fear, Allen says! Don’t fear if your rankings appear to be going down or if your sales slough off.
“In the publishing world, lead with integrity.”
“Be transparent, be humble.”
“Inspiration and God honoring stories trump entertainment every time.”
“Trends are really fresh new voices coming into the industry. Those charting their own way.”
Wrong questions: What’s next? “Don’t try to find the next hot trend, find the next new voice.”
“Stats are fear inducing…”
“Authors, if you chase trends, you’re not following your calling.”
“Quit worrying. Quit bowing to stats. Quit trying to make a Christian version of something in the world… Embrace the turbulence.”
“Your novel is an offering. A story YOU need to tell. No one else has your experiences that take you to the point of telling that story.”
“I want to encourage us all that we create stories that will capture
“We can get to focused on craft and deadlines so we lose the heart of the story.”
“Pixar says story is about reinvention or redemption.”
“We must be careful as an industry not to be tainted and move (toward the center).”
Allen: “I don’t want to read a book in the mind of a serial killer. Some journeys are not worth taking. Only ones who stand the test of time are the ones that bring glory to God.”
“Stories should bring salt and light to the reader at the end of the last pages.”
“When we found a good writer at Nelson, we also wanted authors who had a firm foundation belief in Christ.”
“The second thing you can control in an ever changing industry is your relationship with Christ.”
“Christian fiction is important because WE are His story.”
“God wants our presence more than our productivity.”
“I imagine God and me on a park bench saying nothing. He’s not asking me any questions. God just wants to be with me. With you.”
“It’s not about doing something for God but about being in his presence.”
“You can’t write what you aren’t.”
“Life the story God dreamed for you while knitting you in your mother’s womb.”
Billy Coffey quote: “And the only way to do that is to go out and live before you come in to write.”
“Living between stories… Allen wanted to end his life in Nashville and Nelson well, and start in Colorado Springs and Ransom Heart well. He had a list.
“But he missed the ‘getting there.’ The bridge to get there.”
“We drive for several hours… wife asks ‘What’s the plan? How far are we driving?'” Allen gave her a blank look. He didn’t have a plan.
Allen’s wife challenged him that in the “journey in between” you’re not acting like a family man. You’re treating it like a solo trip.
“She was right.”
“I wondered how many in the industry would say the same thing… you finish a novel and get ready for the next and you forget the in between. You don’t leave time to ‘be well’ with God.”
Arnold quotes John Erickson is the author of the Hank the Cowdog book series:
“As an aspiring author in the 1960s and ’70s, I had a powerful drive to succeed. If I had been pressed to define the term, I would have said that a successful author is one who is able to support himself and his family through his writing. He should be able to make a living with his craft.
“But there was more to it. I began to notice that many of the “successful” people in creative fields suffered fractured lives that led them into depression, burn-out, alcoholism, drug abuse, hedonism, and divorce—estrangement from faith, family, and community, everything that really mattered.
“It seemed a cruel hoax. After an author, actor, musician, or artist had mastered his craft, after struggling and clawing his way to center stage, there he encountered a mockery of his ambitions, a dark mirror image that was, in fact, the direct opposite of success.”
Fransic Schaffer: “The artist ultimate work should be his own life.”
“In the end, in eternity, we are going to be sitting around the campfire and talk about the stories we lived more than the stories we’ve written.”
“… make sure we’re all living lives as offerings to God.”
Rachel here: There are so many good points in Allen’s message. Pray over the ones that ministered to you, or convicted you, and ask the Lord to show you the way to go from here.
I found myself adjusting my expectations to be about Jesus not me. To forget about the awards and accolades but go for the story and writer He dreamed I’d be before the foundation of the earth. Such comfort in knowing I’m fulfilling HIS dreams, not my own. Shew… the pressure is off.
Be blessed!