Reader Profile

As we step into this New Year together, I invite you to visit my blog from time to time - I will be sharing my latest writing discoveries! And whether you call yourself a writer or not, we all have a message to convey about who we are and what we believe. My desire is to help you communicate that message.

With the New Year upon us, it seems fitting to contemplate what it really means to start from the beginning.

Meeting with a magazine editor at Mount Hermon last year, I was given a new take on my prospective reader. As I created a visual of that person, the following questions came to mind: What does my reader look like? What does she care about? Is there a problem she is trying to solve? How can I help her arrive at a solution?

Putting this principle into practice through the months, I've noticed a difference in my plotting and in my heart.

I've started to care about my reader.

As you think about the people you hope to influence this year, whether it is a family member, a friend, or a middle-aged mother across the country who is searching for self-worth, I want to give you a new take on things.

Have you considered starting with prayer?

With every magazine article I compose, every self-help idea and fiction characterization I develop ... before a single idea hits the page, my primary responsibility to my reader, is prayer.

As I study the craft of writing this year, I want you to know that I have prayed for you too. I may not know the color of your eyes, what you like to compose or who you have a burden for. But as we journey together, I pray that our message reflects what's truly on our hearts.

Our readers deserve nothing less.