Writing the Vision
By: Kathi Macias
http://kathimacias.netfirms.com/

I love words. I love the sound of them, the feel of them, the power of them. As a result, books are my passion, whether reading or writing them. I published my first book slightly over fifteen years ago, and my seventeenth in February 2006. Among these sixteen books are several novels, a handful of nonfiction books, a best-selling women’s devotional, a how-to workbook for beginning writers, and two children’s books. However, the total number of books I have actually written and had published is much higher than that. Let me explain.
            When I became a believer in 1974 one of my first thoughts was that I would write Christian books, but the Lord had much to teach me first. “You will be ready to write for me when you are ready to write books without your name on them,” He whispered to my heart. I had no idea what that meant, but slightly over a decade later I had my first opportunity to write a Christian book. “It’s a ghostwriting project,” the publisher explained. “You’ll be writing the book, but it won’t have your name on it.”
            Aha! That’s what God meant so many years earlier. When I had matured enough that the message of my writing meant more than personal recognition for that writing, then I would be ready to write for Him. And so I do—whether the book has my name on it, or someone else’s.
            I consider that ten-year maturing period as my Habakkuk 2:2 time, as God taught me to “Write the vision and make it plain…, that he may run who reads it.” Keeping this verse at the forefront of all I do helps me stay focused on God’s purposes for my life, rather than getting sidetracked by my own. I don’t write books so I can become rich and famous (all right, authors, stop laughing!); I write the vision I believe God has given me, making it as plain as possible so the readers can carry the message to others.
            In addition to writing books and articles, I often teach at writers’ conferences, encouraging those who share my passion for words to commit themselves to writing God’s vision…and making it plain because good writing is a two-part process. First, God gives us a vision, or a message, and we write it down. Second, we sweat bullets rewriting and editing and rewriting again so that vision will be easily understood by our readers.
            My journalism professor once told me that our primary purpose as writers is not to express ourselves, but to clearly and concisely convey something to our readers. That is no small assignment, as anyone who has just completed the seventh draft of an 80,000-word novel will attest. But if we believe in what we are writing, then it is our responsibility to do all we can to take that vision we have written and make it plain.
            One of my more recent books, THE TRAIN-OF-THOUGHT WRITING METHOD: Practical, User-Friendly Help for Beginning Writers, is built around the Habakkuk 2:2 concept. If you’re looking for a book that will teach you proper grammar or punctuation, or how to choose the voice or set the scene for your great American novel, there are many excellent books that cover those subjects. My book is not one of them. However, if you want to know how best to take the vision you believe God has given you and transform it into a clear, compelling, readable manuscript, then my book is exactly what you need.
            The train-of-thought writing method did not originate with me, though I have personally seen it help many beginning writers—including myself—learn how to write the vision and make it plain. In fact, no one seems to be able to pin down where this excellent writing system began, but most experienced writers are familiar with it. I first heard of it when I attended a writers’ conference more than twenty years ago and had the privilege of taking a class from the late Georgiana Walker. I have since taught the concept myself, and after repeated requests to put it into a workbook format, I did so. Though it has been in print less than one year now, I have already received glowing reports of how this concept has helped writers from all over the country organize and polish their manuscripts.
            The most important point for Christian writers to remember, however, is not the train-of-thought writing method or even the two-part Habakkuk 2:2 principle. It is remembering whose vision we are committing to paper, and that we are but the scribes who are privileged to write it and make it plain—whether our name is on it or not.