I’d like you to meet fellow writer, blogger, book reviewer, and author, Hal Paxton.
Hal lives in Florida and belongs to the Suncoast Christian Writers Group in Clearwater. He reviews books for Active Christian Media, blogs for Voice of the Martyrs, and shares his heart at The Great Separation. Not only is Hal a wonderful steward of his writing abilities, he has an impeccable knack for flash web design.
It’s time to celebrate! Hal recently completed his masterful debut novel, Sins of Our Fathers .
“Faced with a serial killer in his church, Pastor Jack Grayson must confront his bitterness with God before he can stop the killer and save the woman with whom he’s rediscovering love.”
My own writer’s heart has germinated a book idea or two, so I wanted to pick Hal’s brain about this whole writing process.
VG: When did you first sense a calling to write?
Hal: I can’t give you an exact age. I’m terrible with dates and names. Such things are grafted in images for me. I was a young student, fifth or maybe sixth grade, who had just written a long report on my father’s job of being a minister. I sat on the hard concrete that cold Florida morning looking over the report thinking about a comment my parents made about it’s length and how I was a good writer. Middle school began to cement the idea through a series of excellent English teachers.
Your tagline intrigues me. What was the impetus behind your book, “Sins of Our Fathers”?
Hal: Well now, that is a funny story.
In a college class on English writers, we were studying a poem by Robert Browning titled, “Porphyria’s Lover.”
I’d been reading it before class and was mesmerized by it. So much that, needing to use the restroom, I made a terribly wrong turn and entered the women’s restroom.
I stood looking at the wall where the, um.. urinals should have been and was very confused as to why they were missing.
Then it dawned on me. I was in the LADIES RESTROOM!
Thankfully it was empty. I hurried out, but much to my embarrassment I ran into one of the women from my class as I came out the door.
The look on her face still makes me smile.
Long story short, in reading the poem I thought to myself that Browning was possibly describing what we would term a serial killer today. My classmates and teacher weren’t so convinced with my arguments but the seed had been planted.
I will note that this poem is important in “Sins of My Fathers.”
VG: Interesting how a seed can take hold like that. How long did it take—from inspiration to perspiration—to finally complete your book?
Well, I think it was around 5 years of seed germination as the rest of my life took precedence. Reading on serial killers off and on. Jotting down stray thoughts. Working on character bios now and then. And then I wondered what in the world I was waiting for? The answer I think was maturation. From that point on I plotted and wrote—a process that took about another year or so to get to the a completed 100,000 plus suspense/thriller novel.
VG: Any writing obstacles along the way? How did you persevere?
Life in general can be a big obstacle. Self doubt. Wondering if I’m really doing what the Lord asked of me. Your basic artist insecurities. I’m a terrible introvert.
One big thing that helped was my weblog The Great Separation. One purpose in starting it was to force myself to get into a habit of writing daily. Looking back it was part of the maturation process. I just didn’t fully realize it then. God’s kind of funny that way.
Another big help was a guy who had been reading my blog and who sought me out to give some advice on something he was writing. I’ll refer to him as Pest—if he reads this he’ll know it’s him. He encouraged me to write for an online ezine. And then when he found out about my book idea he gave some good advice about seeking out at least ten people to pray for my project. I did and that has been a continual source of hope and encouragement for me.
Then there’s family and friends. When a vision fades there are those in my life with the power to restore it.
VG: I love that: “When a vision fades, there are those in my life with the power to restore it.” We need that, don’t we? What other authors inspire your work?
Hal: Stephen R. Lawhead. Ted Dekker. Frank Peretti. Rex Stout. C.S. Lewis. Tolkien. Robert Browning. Poe. Emily Dickinson.
VG: For those of us still plugging along with our first book, what encouragement can you offer?
Hal: Writing that last line is incredibly satisfying. Trust me. Savor it. When it comes. Celebrate!
You’ve written recently, Vicki, that writing is an act of worship. You are so right. Keeping that thought at the top of the list is important because it isn’t dependent upon feeling. Worship of our heavenly Father is action and to be done no matter how we “feel.”
Get into a writers group. That’s imperative. Even if you have to start one. I wish I had followed that advice long ago.
Attend a writers conference. It will feed the embers.
Get that 10 people to pray, like Pest recommended I do.
Pray yourself. Daily. One of my prayers is that I would honor the Lord with the words I write.
Find a way to write regularly.
Read books on writing.
Some will eviscerate your work. Learn to develop a thick skin that will allow you to shake off the sour criticism but leave behind the sweet criticism that will better your work.
Above all, learn to wait upon the Lord and hear Him.
And just think about it. You are a writer. That very fact is incredible because you are following after your Father, the writer and perfecter of your life. He has given you an ability like unto His own, one that creates universes hurtling through spacious realms. And in those universes are planets populated with interesting people with interesting stories to be told that point back to the Master Artist and what He has created.
VG: Very valuable tips, Hal—thank you so much. Your faith and tenacity inspire me to keep going—-to keep writing. I appreciate your heart for God as well as your commitment to get your important story out there. Praying your book will find a wonderful publishing home and bless a kazillion hearts!
~~~
You can email Hal Paxton at:
hal.paxton@sinsofourfathers.com
Author of Sins of Our Fathers
Weblog: The Great Separation
Book blog: Sins of Our Fathers blog
“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
“Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement; he is a rebel who must lay down his arms.”
C.S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity
“There is more to life than increasing its speed.” ~ Ghandi
“The marginless lifestyle and its resultant chronic time pressure are particularly devastating to our relationships: to self, to family, to others, to God.” ~ Richard A. Swenson, MD, author of Margin
“Paradoxical as it may seem, modern industrial society, in spite of an incredible proliferation of labor-saving devices, has not given people more time to devote to their all-important spiritual tasks; it has made it exceedingly difficult for anyone, except the most determined, to find any time whatever for these tasks.” ~ E.F. Schumacher
“The goal of much that is written about life management is to enable us to do more in less time. But is this necessarily a desirable goal? Perhaps we need to get less done, but the right things. ~ Jean Fleming
“I believe that many people who would like to write about certain thorny subjects choose not to because they are afraid they can’t handle the feelings that they foresee will emerge as they work.” ~ Louise DeSalvo
I’ve reread Writing as a Way of Healing by Louise DeSalvo a few times and appreciate her focus on writing as process. DeSalvo believes that writing about our wounds forces us into an awareness that we might not otherwise have about ourselves. Can’t argue with that.
DeSalvo’s book dances with metaphors: writing is a very sturdy ladder out of the pit, balm on the wound, picking and digging, she says. In one place she quotes Wayne Muller: “Our own wounds can be vehicles for exploring our essential nature, revealing the deepest textures of our heart and soul, if only we will sit with them, open ourselves to the pain…without holding back, without blame.”
Okay, but maybe we need to journal first. Journaling and writing for publication are two different things. “A lot of writers start writing while they are still in the compression chamber. Such writing has value, but only for the writer himself. Recording in your journal your deepest inner feelings at the time of heavy compression is great therapy. However, it is rarely publishable,” Ethel Herr reminds us.
We each know how it feels to be stressed, compressed, or blown away by life. Herr says we may think the whole world is ready to hear about it, but it is not.
I’m never ready to share with the world until God teaches me how to handle tension and cope through His grace. Isn’t that what the world wants to know—how to cope? Before we can write objectively, we need healing and perspective. And that takes time.
Back in 1998, I wrote too soon about my father’s death. While my grief was still raw, a dear friend encouraged me to get the story published. She reminded me that writing is healing. It was. But looking back, I could have waited a bit longer before bearing my soul to the world. God graced me with much insight since that sorrowful year.
Yes, according to Ethel Herr, we are ministering prophets with a broken heart. Before we can think about ministering, God wants to bring us to a place of readiness. Readiness comes as we sort, heal, and work through our own brokenness.
Are you experiencing something you feel sure God wants you to share with others? Is it time? Or are you still in the compression chamber? Journal through it until He releases you to publish.
May God show us when and how to write from compression.
Resources:
Writing as a Way of Healing
An Introduction to Christian Writing
“We tend to think that we are first ministers with a pen. However, before we can minister, we must learn to worship and regard all our writing as an act of worship, done for God’s pleasure.” ~ Ethel Herr
Do you write to make a name for yourself, or to bless others? It’s true—folks write for different reasons.
Ethel Herr, author of An Introduction to Christian Writing
Ethel Herr addresses the nature of our worship:
It begins in the heart of the writer.
“It is a personal, private act of the heart whereby I offer to God my adoration, praise, and thanks for all he is and has done for me, in me, and through me.”
It reflects the image of God.
“It shows to me and to my world through me, what God is like…as I live and write, I am allowing Him to live out His personality and His creativity in human form on earth.”
It acts in obedience to the revealed will of God.
“Knowing that to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God is an “intelligent act of worship” can help us decide what kinds of things to write.
It shares openly and honestly what represents our genuine selves.
“If we lived simple carefree lives, how could we command the attention of a world that expects us to show them how to face tension and solve problems?”
After we learn to worship on paper, “we are free to think about ministering,” Herr tells us.
“A Christian writer is a ministering prophet with a broken heart.” ~ Ethel Herr
Inspiration floods my heart this morning from a dear soul who always nudges me further along the writing trail. Ethel Herr, author of An Introduction to Christian Writing
Herr gives two functions for our writing as ministry:
1. “To arrest the attention of a readership that is saturated with ideas and pressures almost to the point of insensitivity to anything we have to offer.” It’s hard to get people’s honest attention, and penetrate their heart, Herr says.
2. “To present all of life from the Christian viewpoint, both to non-Christians and Christians. Our world is dying for the lack of a good, clear image of what God is like. Thousands of people have rejected some erroneous pictures of God that they have seen in church or in the lives of professing religious persons or in the writings of non-Christians who tried to write about things they did not understand.”
Our biggest writing challenge is providing our readers with a clear biblical picture of God.
As writers who are Christian, we are servants of Christ Jesus; servants of each other. Herr reminds us that we write to meet the needs of others, not our own.
Lord, enable us today to write with clarity, purpose, and love. Keep us humble, sensitive, truthful, and real, so that our words might minister.
Next post: Writing as Worship
