Daily Devotions for Writers, From the Writing Academy

compiled and Edited by Patricia Lorenz, 2008 Infinity Publishing.com, 398 Pages, ISBN: 0-7414-4594-8, $19.95

Most writers practice their craft with a keyboard and screen and face unique writing-related fears. They work alone and face rejection with every submission.

The Writing Academy, a non-profit organization founded in 1982 by Christian writers, supports beginning and published writers of all genres. This organization formed to encourage writing excellence. Their current membership has grown to more than sixty and includes twenty-two charter members with goals to encourage writers to write, while attracting new members, and raising money for the Academy.

During the summer of 2007, Academy member, Patricia Lorenz, suggested the group publish a book of devotions written specifically for writers. Her idea received an enthusiastic response, but she was the only volunteer. Even though it would take long hours and most of a year from her other writing. Two hundred writers from thirty-five states and three foreign countries contributed to this new release with 366 devotions for writers, including seven authors from the Pacific Northwest. Infinity Publishing donated their efforts. A generous donation from the Cecil Murphey Foundation Fund completed the funding.

The true short stories feature author’s joys and struggles, and are specifically designed to encourage writers. Devotions include a brief illustration, prayer, and quote. For instance, Agnes Lawless, Washington, wrote about the need to submit her writing to God before writing. She used her three-year-old son’s impatience with a new toy to depict her theme. She asks the Lord to teach her, and quotes Alfred Lord Tennyson’s, “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.”

Carolyn Meagher, Washington, used Moses as an example and wrote about excuses, self-doubt, discouragement and a pity party. The Lord reminded her that she had a computer, modern technology, and writing resources at her fingertips, while Moses used a stick and words. In her prayer she thanked God for not listening to excuses. She quoted Marcel Proust, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

Lydia Harris, Washington, wrote about rejection, isolation, hopes, and fears. She hoped editors would look with favor on her submissions, that her words would touch reader’s lives, and that praise or rejection wouldn’t influence her sense of worth. Her prayer thanked God that her dreams centered on Him and not on herself. Her quote came from Psalms 42:11 NIV “Hope in God.”

Written for writers, by writers, these 366 daily devotions share real-life writing experiences to encourage and inspire writers to continue to hone their craft and share their writing gifts. All writers will benefit from it. It belongs on every writer’s bookshelf.