Recently a young
friend posted on facebook the first things he planned to buy when he got
royalties from the book he was beginning to write. Another would-be writer countered
that he (the unhatched writer who was counting chickens as first-class aviary
empire) had better wait till his beard was long and knotty before he started
counting the dividends. I chuckled, because I know exactly the feeling (though
have never grown a beard, smooth or knotty). Have dreamed of writing three or
four Books and Culture top of the list Christian non-fiction bestsellers, as
well as a New York Times fiction blockbuster since I was thirteen or fourteen,
and over fifty years of my life have gone by without any of those goals being
even closely reached. This does not mean that I haven’t inscribed, penned,
typed, composed or digitated on
personal computer any literary and life-building gems over the years – actually
all I do these days (besides caring for beloved people by cooking , cleaning, gardening, putting up with anything
that has to be done around our place) is read
and write. Have translated over
one hundred Christian books from English to Portuguese, three from Portuguese
to English, a couple from Spanish to Portuguese and one big architectural
manual from French to Portuguese. Still dream of producing memorable reads, and
have published six books of my own as well as numerous articles over the years,
but am far from being known as an author. Better known as Lau’s wife or mother
of Davi (or Deborah or Daniel, depending on the social circle in which I’m
mentioned) and now, grandmother of ... (won’t mention names because all seven
are important young people who plan to make a difference in this wonderful
fallen world)!
Back to my theme
(one of my pet peeves is the tendency to run around in circles with facts,
motives, thoughts and dreams), being a writer or would-be author may be the
major activity in my life, but I must admit that it won’t yield much money. Here
in Brazil king logically and biblically, but we do try to
reach, teach and transform lives, and that mission marks our words. Whether
read by a hundred or ten thousand, if ten people can be impacted for eternity
as well as for times like these, I will count it all joy.
Just got a message
from my editor asking me to give my account number so they can
deposit the payment of my “author’s rights”. Last time I was paid for my
“rights” it was a couple of hundred dollars. Royalties? More like serfities! Maybe made a thousand reais over the fifteen most recent
years. We do get paid for what we sell, but with illness curtailing seminars
and speaking engagements, sales from
our books are pretty meager. My facebook acquaintance can let his beard grow
for a good many years before the eggs get golden.
A couple of years
ago I took an American course in writing and publishing for the Christian USA
market, with the hope of breaking
into print in the evangelical arena there. A modest advance for a book there
would yield the money needed as down-payment to publish and advertise two books
for the Christian market in Brazil America
The wisest of king s
of Israel
“He pondered and searched out
and set in order many proverbs. The Teacher searched
to find just the right words, and what
he wrote was upright and true. The words of the wise are like goads, their
collected sayings like firmly embedded nails-- given by one Shepherd.”
That
is the deep desire of any writer who believes the word of our Shepherd. Like
any who plan to write balancing realism and hope, he must add a warning:
Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to
them. Of making many books there is
no end, and much study wearies the body. Now all has been heard; here is the
conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the
whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
Goads and firmly embedded nails are a gift
from above. No writer today is divinely inspired like Moses, David, Ezra or
Apostle Paul or Dr. Luke. Yet each writer who wants to communicate godly wisdom
will be judged not just by what she or he writes, but how he and she think or
live—every hidden thing, whether good or evil, emerges in some way!
That is contrary to what post-modern
writers of today—literary theorists, best-selling authors, Pulitzer journalists
or tabloid gossipers—say about good writing. My grandsons’ teacher says that what the writer writes really does not
matter, because each reader “owns” what he or she interprets, emptying any
meaning the original author intended to give. One boy turned to his teacher
commenting, “Well then, I can give any answer on any test any way I want,
because as the reader, once it has been published, I own what the writer says, and my interpretation is as good as the
next one’s.” The instructor replied, “No you can not. You have to read what I said, know what I taught and do
exactly what is expected in my class. What I just affirmed is literary
theory—exclusively outside the classroom and grades spectrum!”
The teenage students came home outraged at
the foolishness their teacher proposed, and immediately dug into their books on
Philosophy by Christian thinkers. Which goads me to thinking
about the matter of authors and authorities. In my own teenage years, I wanted to question any
authority—especially if someone was “lording it over me”. Even today I cringe
when someone writes as if her words were written on stone tablets. A writer who
communicates well does not shove opinions down my throat or treat me like a
proverbial dumb blonde. We abhor prejudiced know-it-alls who do not respect
readers and consider as mute emptyheads those who read their magnanimous
postulations.
Good ideas have to precede good writing,
and the only Supreme Authority is the Creator of every good gift (James 1:17)—any
other creator is an imitator, no matter how much she tries to be original. God creates from nothing—we create from
something the Creator has already thought, declared or done through timeless
eternity! Even highly-educated, knowledgeable writers don’t know it all, and
any authority they have is conceded by authorities higher than they are.
I have a friend who gushes adjectives and
adverbs in torrents of verbosity, but ignores any relationship that has caused
pain. Consequently, she has very little to say about what really matters in
life. She doesn’t understand why her articles aren’t published—her double major
and master’s degrees make her an authority in Language, but don’t produce the author
she wants to be. Other friends, deficiently educated, are always attuned to
life-changing ideas linked to people they love—these are perpetual learners who
express themselves beautifully. Sometimes I wish I had thought or said exactly
what they shared. Even their often sparse everyday conversation is never trite!
Writers of the Old Testament did not simply
relate history or facts of Jewish life. The book of Ezra is about books and
decrees by pagan rulers—fitting subject matter for an author well-versed in the
Law of Moses as well as the history and laws of Babylonians, Assyrians,
Persians and the king s, advisers and
powerful officials of the Middle Eastern world. But what has been documented
for three thousand years about this maven writer-priest is recorded in Ezra 7:9
and 10:
For the gracious hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and
observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel
Same goes for Daniel, another wise thinker
who did not write exclusively for God’s people, but inclusively for several
dynasties that ruled the world. Abducted from among young princes of Judah to Babylon king
of Persia, to whom he foretold the future Greek dominion, this Hebrew prince
humbly wrote about events that would shatter the known world. Though they came
from all walks of life—princes and cowherds were equally prophets, there were
also king s unequaled in literary
genius—the shepherd warrior poet David, and Schlomo,
his highly educated-genius-philosopher-teacher compiler of proverbs and
collector of wives.
The Gospels narrate the encounters between
Jesus and the people around him, many times expressing admiration that he
spoke, taught, healed, forgave, expelled demons with authority—not as their scribes (Matthew 7:29; Mark 1:22; Luke
4:32). Their writers, the educated men whose living was based on the Book, who
postulated on ever jot and tittle of
the Law, did not have authority when it came to living out their faith.
Instead, they were like whitened tombs! After the resurrection, the disciples
were invested with authority to speak
boldly and impact their world for change, beginning in Jerusalem ,
Judea and Samaria
I’ve read much about writing, and written a
lot about what I’ve read over the years, and have to admit I still have eons to
learn. Simultaneously more pointed as well as more softened in what I write,
wish I were an author with authority, but have to settle to being scribe and
translator, though I will continue
writing and producing good reads, better in each article or book! Tips have
been many, some useless, others priceless, but if I want to write with
eternity’s values in view, it has to be like the anonymous writer of Hebrews
(who, by the way, wrote several things about authority and authorship):
Therefore we also, since we are
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and
the sin which so easily ensnares us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Elizabeth Gomes
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