© 2017 Yvonne Lehman

I read about a young man who emailed his seminary professor asking for a good reason why so many trite and meaningless rules in the Bible were of any importance.

A week later, he emailed the professor again, gloating. “I didn’t hear from you, so my question must have stumped you.”

The professor responded, “I replied but didn’t bother to put the dot before com in your email address. After all, it’s only an insignificant period.”

THE CRAFT OF WRITING SHOULD BE LEARNED AND APPLIED.

Rules are important in traffic, life, and yes, in writing, whether it’s the placement of a period or capturing the theme of the entire story.

When we need a doctor, employ a mechanic, or send our children to school, we want skilled, able people in those positions. Editors, agents, and readers want the same from authors. We may be called to the profession and visualize publication, but first must come the training.

We are blessed in having access to expert, experienced, and knowledgeable teachers through writers conferences, books, college courses, internet courses, DVDs, critique groups, and email loops.

But it was Albert Einstein who made famous the idea that “imagination is more important than knowledge.”

CREATIVITY MUST BE DEVELOPED AND PRACTICED.

Twenty-one published writers decided to show other writers something about the combination of craft and creativity. Each would write a short story, incorporating the same five elements.

First line: The wind was picking up.
Mistaken identity
Pursuit at a noted landmark
Unusual form of transportation
Last line: So that’s exactly what she did.

The book is titled What the Wind Picked Up (iUniverse) and showed that a story can be told many times and include the same elements yet be different because each writer has his own unique style and voice.

When a talent or special ability or inclination is discovered in persons, they’re encouraged to work harder at it, learn more, and practice more.

Our imagination (creativity) makes our stories unique and original.

COMMITMENT BRINGS SUCCESS.

Those who succeed are those who don’t give up but continue to study craft, practice creativity, and work through challenges because it leads to the joy of reaching the world, whether that’s one person or many.

But don’t forget: if reaching the world requires an email, it won’t happen if you type com without the period.
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Yvonne Lehman, founder and former director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, now directs the October Blue Ridge “Autumn in the Mountains” Novelist Retreat. She is author of 57 novels, compiler of 8 books in the Moments series, each composed of articles written by 50+ beginning and multi-published authors. She serves Lighthouse of the Carolinas as Acquisitions and Managing Editor of Candlelight Romance and Guiding Light Women’s Fiction.