About This Blog

Hi. My name is Cathi-Lyn Dyck, and I'm the head cheeseburger around here.

As I connect with the writer's world--particularly the Christian writer's world--I keep experiencing a conflict of values. Integrity versus marketability. Faith versus religion. Societal contribution versus social manipulation.

So, this is a blog about the way your world view is influenced by and communicated using the written word.

There are lots of blogs out there that discuss the techniques of writing, or various aspects of the journey of writing—including the emotional, spiritual or psychological journeys of story. I reference them, and keep a link log of them.

But do you have a plan for how your writing is going to change your reader’s world? What is the meaningful contribution of your life to the world? Do you understand the mechanics of how entertainment media influence people’s perspectives?

Being a writer, let alone a published author, is a struggle to be heard in a clamouring crowd. It’s essential to be absolutely focused on your message—you may only get one chance. Is your message all it can be? Are you sure you’re saying what you mean to say?

Is what you mean to say the same as what God means for you to say?

The posts here are often about the different aspects of writing, such as outlining, redrafting, and developing a story, why it's good to be a bad writer, or developing varying spiritual realities in your fictional characters.

But much to do with Christian writing involves a clash of pragmatics and faith. What shapes Christian writing? If a book is fictional, are its spiritual perspectives a fiction as well, and what do readers receive from it?

And that leads to an outright theological hunt, something that shouldn't be scary or painful, but sometimes is. Sometimes, a funny thing happens on the way to--well, not-fame, in this case. Part of the writing life is losing one's sense of entitlement to an adoring audience, but also finding one's own voice.

A good writer has to learn to think first and write second. It's not about the beloved book project; it's about a trail you follow in search of God.

May your journey be good, but more than that, may it be true. Here's my encouragement to you: Know your pursuit of God for what it is. Then, tell it how you know it.

~Cat

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Cathi-Lyn Dyck is an aspiring author of at least three brilliant novels-to-be (no, trust me, they're brilliant, just like everyone else's) in varying genres from contemporary romance to speculative fiction. More immediately, she is also a freelance columnist for her local paper, Rivers Banner; a frequent guest on blog and radio at Humble O Radio; freelance editor for various homeschool publications, both magazine and book; and in charge of maintaining a bazillion blogs related to her personal interests of family, music, the arts, sustainable living and contemporary womanhood. Cat's online writing portfolio can be found at CanadianPrairieWriter.Blogspot.com.


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