Kristen Young is the third interviewee in our ‘Spotlight on Australian authors’ series. 1) What is your background and how did you get involved in writing? I was born in the UK but grew up in suburban Australia like any other Aussie kid. But while other girls were out playing Netball and hula hoop, I was busy making spy magazines for my family to read – complete with puzzles and secret codes. It’s no wonder that I got into writing!…
Simon Camilleri is the second of our spotlight posts on Australian authors. What has been your journey towards writing? Since deciding to follow Jesus in my teens, I have always had a passion for using my creative skills to share Jesus with people. I had a love for theatre and began studying it at University and so that was for me the most natural place to start. I began by writing Christian plays and directing them at University. That led…
Cecily Paterson, the first interviewee in our ‘Spotlight on Australian authors’ series. Until a year ago, I was isolated from other Christian authors. Since discovering several Facebook groups I’ve joined two specifically for Australian authors and book related people – Australasian Christian Writers and Christian Writers Downunder. Through them I’ve ‘met’ many Australian authors. I’ve learned heaps through the articles they post and I’ve also started reading their books to get a feel for the market. I wanted to interview…
When we read the work of writers, we read the successes. We usually do not know the whole story. The reality is that many writers have written far more than what they publish. Like learning to practice a musical instrument, there will be years of practice involved. My non-fiction writing journey started well before the publication of 1-2-1 Discipleship. Looking back now I can see I was honing my writing with the discipline of weekly letter writing (age 5 until…
www.storyingthescriptures.com started as an English website designed to accompany the book “Telling the Gospel Through Story*.” The nature of Bible storytelling meant that some way to HEAR Bible stories was needed. It is not at all the same thing to write down the stories in black and white. A website also allowed us to keep adding new things and sharing new resources in a way that a static book never can. I was soon dreaming of having the website function…
This is a post with ten practical hints of how you can help your friend who is an author. We don’t like to ask these things but many of these would be helpful. http://keithwebb.com/support-author-friend/ How To Support Your Author Friend #4 – reviews can be cut and pasted to multiple sites. I think Good Reads and Book Depository are also extremely important. The actual publishers site and your local Christian book stores are also important.
Bible storytelling is one of my passions. I am convinced that it is a special method of sharing truth that allows people to ‘swallow’ it much more easily. By ‘swallow,’ I don’t necessarily mean accept but that it is a form that they can hear the message. Many other forms cause people to choke, even though the message is good. Day by day we are learning more about this art of communication. The website that accompanies the book is a…
Every book, even non-fiction, has a ‘story behind’ the book. ‘Telling the Gospel Through Story’ is no exception. 1. Learning about Bible storytelling In 2004, I was introduced to Bible storytelling. I was a reluctant convert but once the Holy Spirit pressured me to learn my first story (Creation) it was the listener response that inspired me to continue. I spent the next years adapting and learning and increasing my story repertoire. In 2008, I was invited to share at…
In 2003, myself and a colleague started developing a course that included two lots of five days separated by two to six months to allow participants to practice what they’d learned in part one. The first section was on evangelism (sharing about Jesus) and the second on discipleship (helping people to grow/mature in their following of Jesus). However, despite having what we believed was a worthwhile course there was little interest from our colleagues. This was largely because neither of…