While I still review books at TRC Magazine and CMI (even here sometimes), I have learned that, when it comes to book reviewing, Christians are just as cut-throat about their books as non-believers. Social networking to build up my name and followers just to have the opportunity to publish a book, dried me out.
Like the brown fields of Chino Valley in summer, I dried out beneath the heat of the game between Amazon algorithms, Indie writers sporting an attitude, and making the craft of writing around the sale of the book. If you are a believer, I asked myself, why would you mistreat others because they didn’t like your book? Why would you write a book just to see your name on the cover? Why would you get into writing as a believer and not treat it as the mission field?
So I created a different kind of writers group in partnership with a fellow writer. It does not replace the writers group you are currently in, but enhances it. I wanted a place void of marketing, void of the usual writer walking in with a stack of self-published books asking everyone to review it, and full of the joys and support a small group brings.
You can come to this group with prayer requests, enjoy technology support, and get a critique for all kinds of writing from micro-content on social media to the dream novel; from a missionary looking to write better letters to a blogger who just wants to tell a better story. All are welcome. This group is a place of rest and empowerment to bring writers back to the root of why they write.
Because Matthew 28:19-20 says we must.