On Being Resonators
Supporting Writers in Their Writing
As those of you who follow me on Instagram already know, this weekend I finished a first draft of my new novel. It’s currently just over 100K words and if I’m any judge of my own work, really quite good. But that isn’t just my opinion. I’ve shared the first three chapters with my writers group and they’ve met with general approval. So I know this is something worth editing and getting into shape.
This summer, one of the things my writers group is doing is reading through Diana Glyer’s excellent book, Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings. Listening to the Rev. Dr. Michael Ward read this book is what helped me launch a writers group in New Hampshire after my family had been back in the States for a few years. I realized a group of writers, something I had had twice before, was essential to doing any kind of regular writing for me. Thankfully, my friend, Mark Forrester, whose book Above, Not Up is forthcoming from Bandersnatch Publishers, agreed both in New Hampshire and again here in Washington, and so we’ve been able to get two groups going, thanks ultimately to this book.
In the third chapter of her book, Glyer introduces her readers to the notion of resonators. Glyer writes, “The term describes anyone who acts as a friendly, interested, supportive audience. Resonators fill many roles: they show interest, give feedback, express praise, offer encouragement, contribute practical help, and promote the work to others.” And while I’ve definitely got wonderful resonators in my current group (including both Mark Forrester and Maddie Dobrowski), I’d like to think that those of you who’ve signed up to receive these posts of mine have done so because you’ve got something of the resonator in you.
“The term describes anyone who acts as a friendly, interested, supportive audience. Resonators fill many roles: they show interest, give feedback, express praise, offer encouragement, contribute practical help, and promote the work to others.” - Diana Glyer
So today, I’m doing the part of being a writer I hate the most, asking for support. There are two truths which must be universally accepted. The first is that the world needs writers (and all other kinds of artists). The second is that writers need support in order to stay writers. Now, I’m committed to keeping this substack free, and my previous forays into trying to do extra content for people who donate have failed miserably. So here’s my ask: If you like my work, if you want to support me as a writer, please consider doing any of the following. Also, please know that every author I know would love it if you did any of these things.
1. Let Me Know
One thing writers tend not to hear too often until they become wildly popular is praise. Usually it’s someone commenting to point out a spelling error. So if you like what I’m writing, drop me a note to let me know. Like the post. Leave a comment. Write me a letter. Just, let me know that you’re reading and that you’re glad you are.
2. Pray
I think this is something often ignored even by Christian authors, but the truth is praying for authors is a great way to support them as authors. Prayer is lifting a person up to God and asking for his grace to be given to them. Really, there’s nothing better you could do for me as a writer (or just as a person).
3. Leave Reviews
If you’re a fan of my published books (I’ll leave list below with links to Amazon, but they’re available for order wherever books are sold), leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Leaving reviews, even just rating a book, causes the almighty algorhythm to share it with other people. So if you’ve read something I’ve published, consider rating it or leaving a review. If you’ve got your own substack or blog or are connected with a journal or magazine, consider pitching a review to them.
4. Share
Better than algorhythms or any publicity I can do (which I’m really bad at), telling other people about my writing would go a long way. Share pictures of my books on your social media, tell your friends who might like them about them. Share links on your socials. Write a letter to somebody about it.
5. Buy My Books
This one’s kind of obvious but buying copies of my books eventually puts a little money in my pockets and lets publishers and sellers know that there’s a market for the stuff I write. If you already have a copy of any of my books you have my sincerest thanks. In that case, you might consider buying them for your friends and family.
6. Donate
Writing costs money, it just does. From buying books, notebooks, and pens to paying for wifi and computers and websites, to going to conferences. Plus there’s the time that goes into writing, not just sitting at the desk doing the physical act of writing, but the thinking about the ideas, researching, formatting, and other minutae that go into writing and sharing your writing online and in the real world. There are two ways you could donate to me to help support my writing. You could become a supporter through Substack (where there are a variety of options for donating) or your could donate through Buy Me a Coffee.
I want to be explicit, however, no one needs to spend a dime on my writing if they don’t want to or can’t. Request my books through your local library (which might mean they’ll buy them), continue to read all of my online content for free (at least anything I personally publish, I can’t promise that every website or magazine I write for will be free). But for those of you who can and want to, please consider contributing monetarily to help me keep writing.
Finally, thank you. If you’re getting this in your inbox that means you decided at some point my writing was worth reading (if you no longer feel that way, no hard feelings, feel free to unsubscribe). For that I am eternally grateful. Please know that you, my readers are in my prayers. Next week, we’ll return to another old post about the Green Man, this time with some references to Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy films.