Plot Points #22 💌
Finding your reader, stories from a London bookshop, lost skills, and a prayer for your first sip ☕️
Hello there and happy Friday the 13th, friends!
I’m about halfway through my novel edits and things are coming along quite nicely. Sometimes I look at what I’ve changed and love it, and other times I think, “No one writes as terribly as you do, Wendi. This is utter shit.” Such is the life of a writer. (See the George Orwell quote in Plot Points #20 if you don’t believe me.)
It’s a challenge not to play the comparison game. As a voracious reader, I’m constantly exposed to other great (and not-so-great) authors, so the urge to compare can be pretty intense. Jonathan Merritt, a fantastic religion writer (who also endorsed my book!) spoke a few years ago at the Write Brilliant conference about figuring out one’s audience. He wasn’t speaking in a general sense, either, but in a very particular My-Reader-Is-A-35-Year-Old-Woman-Named-Miranda sense. We had to practice narrowing down our audience to a single specific (imaginary) person because, in doing so, we would be able to write with more precision, more focus. After all, if I’m always thinking of how to satisfy the needs of a hundred readers instead of one, I will inevitably fail to satisfy any of them.
Now that I’ve made such a massive change to one of the protagonists in my book, I have had to re-think my reader, as well. In truth, I’ve been picturing my daughter most of the time. She’s almost ten and might actually love to read more than I do. (I know. I KNOW! 😍) When I sit down to edit, I imagine Lucy curled up on the couch with my book in hand. And I write to her.
(Lord knows I’ll be able to count on her brutally honest review 😆.)
A Collect: For That First Sip of Coffee
Gracious, loving Father, we offer you gratitude and praise for the gift of small joys, for the delight of this first morning sip, which warms and comforts us, so that we may face all the day’s troubles and limitations, all of its goodness and laughter, with hope and good cheer, to the glory of Your Name, and to the worship of Your Son, Jesus, who lives and reigns with the Spirit, one God, forever and ever (all the way to the very last drop). Amen.
Even though I’m not on social media anymore (except to sometimes check in on what my favorite theologians and bookstagrammers are up to!), I’d love for you to tag me if you choose to share these collects. I write a new one each week and pray them over my readers, so tagging gives others an easier chance to find this email 💌. Thank you!
Point #1: The football huddle was first created by a group of Deaf players.
Did you know that? This was so other Deaf teams couldn’t see their signs before a play. This past weekend, the football team at Gallaudet University (Hi, MB! 🤟🏻)—the premier university for Deaf and hard-of-hearing people—debuted some really cool helmets with augmented reality screens. With these screens, the coach could transmit plays directly to each player. Sometimes technology is really, really cool!
Point #2: Bookshop stories are my favorite stories.
. Her stories from a London bookshop are so charming it hurts 📚.Point #3: Being a mother is a constant test of courage.
I read this tender essay feeling like someone had opened my diaries. We can’t keep our kids away from every possible danger—not only because the world is too broken, but also because it’s not actually good for them—but the temptation to try is strong. The good news is our children are always giving us opportunities to be courageous, one step at a time.
Point #4: For students to thrive, let’s bring back “active doing” to replace “passive learning.”
Yes, yes, a thousand times YES to this piece on the need for schools to reinstate skills courses like woodshop, auto mechanics, home economics, and more. Our children lose so much when we ask them to stare at devices all day and forget their actual bodies.
Reading In The Nook
I finally finished Rivals (American Royals #3) and it did turn out to be better than I had originally thought. At the time, I was just not in the mood for a sparkling romantic drama, but I am definitely looking forward to the next book now. (Plus, I’m 60 books done with my 75-book goal of the year! Hooray!)
I also started on a new title called Sea of Tranquility about a man and woman from two different centuries whose lives intersect in incredible ways. It was a Goodreads Choice book and a Best Book of the Year by NPR and The New York Times, so I’m eager to dive in!
Before I go, I want to take a moment to express my deep grief over the atrocities being committed against both Israeli and Palestinian families. Like many of you, I have watched in horror this past week as mothers, fathers, and children are murdered under the guise of “resistance” or bombed in the name of “retaliation.” It is gut-wrenching to think about what these families are enduring at this very moment.
It is never okay for innocent human lives to be slaughtered or used as political, economic, or social collateral.
(It is okay for you to take a break from the news. We can maintain our compassion without consuming endless violence.)
Regardless of your views on the Israeli government or the Palestinian cause, I encourage you to keep the dignity of all people made in the image of God fixed in your mind. Don’t let yourself become numb to seeing both Palestinians and Israelis as they truly are: beloved. Resist the one-track narrative that seeks to reduce any particular group into a singular entity without individual voices.
Let us continue to pray for an end to this ceaseless violence and, most importantly, for the freedom of all people, everywhere, to live in peace.
(
wrote a beautiful essay on the need to bear witness right now, rather than think we know the perfect solution, and I highly recommend it.)“May God bless you with the foolishness to think you can make a difference in this world, so that you will do things which others tell you cannot be done.”
—Sister Ruth Fox, Order of Saint Benedict—