A great
deal of my writing goes into interview articles. One of my favorite assignments
is covering book authors.
Not only do
they share wisdom for writers but also they give great encouragement for Christian
living. Today, I want to share an excerpt from an interview I did with author
Tim Shoemaker.
Tim
Shoemaker is the author of eleven books including Dangerous Devotions for Guys and Smashed Tomatoes, Bottle Rockets…and Other Devotionals You Can Do With
Your Kids.
In May
2013, his book, Code of Silence, was
named in the Top Ten List of Crime Novels for Youth in Booklist Online. Back Before Dark is the sequel, and it
came out in the spring of 2013.
Tim speaks
at “churches, para-church organizations such as Focus on the Family, Iron
Sharpens Iron Men’s Conferences, International Network of Children’s Ministry,
Moody Pastors Conference, at men’s retreats, women’s groups, couples retreats,
Youth Worker conventions, homeschool conventions, and conduct Family Devotion
Workshops all across the country.”
Tim thanks for carving some time out
of your schedule for this interview. I know you’ve been writing and speaking full-time since 2004. How many years did
you write before doing it full-time? Share with us how your writing journey
began.
I’ve been writing since sometime in
the early 90’s, at least. I wrote things for my three sons, mainly. Most of the
writing was family devotional things that I did with the kids—object lesson and
activity-oriented stuff to teach spiritual truth. I also loved telling them stories,
and they’d ask me to write them down. In
time, I started doing that.
And my youngest son had a hard time reading—so
to encourage him along I wrote stories for him—at his reading and interest
level. What I didn’t see at the time was that God was preparing me to write for
a bigger audience.
I notice your writing now falls into
two categories: one for parents and youth workers and the other is fiction for
boys. First, I want to ask about your writing for
parents and youth workers. What drew you to this genre?
As a dad, I struggled to effectively
teach my boys about God and the principles he gave us to live by. I had a stack
of books for family devotions, none of which really worked for long. Then I
started doing little object lessons to teach spiritual truth. Blowing up eggs
in the microwave. Smashing tomatoes. Shooting model rockets. All kinds of
things. The boys listened. Learned. Enjoyed it. And with every object lesson or
activity, they were getting a nugget of truth etched into their mind.
So eventually I started writing them
down—thinking maybe my sons could use them with their own kids when they grew
up. Then, at a writer’s conference, I was showing an acquisitions editor some
fiction—and it was clearly with the wrong publishing house for that. “What else
do you have?” he said. I almost answered “nothing” because the fiction was all
I’d planned to present. That was my dream. Then the devotionals popped into my
mind. I mentioned them—and he loved the examples I was giving him. The
devotionals were written with all the passion of a dad’s love—and that started
a series of books. I had no idea God was
using the writing I was doing for my kids to launch something bigger.
Since I struggled to teach my kids,
I totally understood other parents—especially dads—as they wrestled to convey
spiritual truth in a way that their kids would listen. God developed a passion
in me to help them, too. That’s where the speaking came in.
As for writing for youth workers,
that was a natural path to take. I’d been working with youth for years. The
same devotionals that worked for my boys at home worked for kids in a youth
group. Really well. So when Group Publications approached me about doing a book,
by God’s grace I was ready. Isn’t it amazing how God paves the way without us
even being aware of it?
You have awesome titles in your
devotion books for guys. Boys are naturally drawn to things like “Puking Pumpkins.” When you write your
devotions for boys, what is your writing process? Do you think of a devotional
first and then incorporate something similar to a “puking pumpkin” into it? Or,
do you think of the puking pumpkin first, and then tie in a devotional?
A man spoke to me at a conference
and asked if I’d ever tried electrocuting a pickle. I was instantly intrigued.
“No, what does it do?” When I got home, I tried it, and God helped me see how
perfectly that illustrated a basic but tough truth of our faith. I’ve used that
demo with men and students many times since. I have a proposal for another book
of devotionals out there—and “Electro-pickle” (or “Franken-pickle”) will
definitely be in there.
Do you have a set routine for
writing each day? What helps you stay on task?
I have a routine for the start of my
day. I get up with my wife. Walk a couple miles. Pray. Memorize. Have
devotions, journal, and have breakfast. Then I get to work. When I’m really in
a time crunch, I write first. That would be the most important thing to keep me
on task. Write before I start anything else.
When the weather permits, I write
outside. Other times I’ll go to a fast food place. Usually I’m at home.
Sometimes the change of environment helps me stay more alert.
I’m not able to write every day. It
takes me a lot of time to prep for speaking engagements, too.
The big time killer is email,
Facebook, etc. If I start with that stuff, I’ll likely lose a lot of writing
time.
Writers hear about building their
platforms. Any thoughts you would like to share about that?
That’s a tough one, because my story
isn’t all that typical. I had seven books published before I ever had a
platform. But I was busy with work, my family, and in ministry at church. When
we had to close our business in 2004 I felt I was to go “all in” on the
writing. I thought God was going to open
the doors for the fiction writing. That didn’t happen. Not for years.
But God was working in me. Changing
me. Making me the person I should be so I could do the job he had for me. I was
talking to a pastor friend, sharing my burden for men and how they often
avoided teaching their kids spiritually. “If I could just get men in a room,” I
said, “I know I can help them over the hurdles holding them back.”
He looked at me. “Why don’t you come
and do it at my church?” It hit me so hard. When I said that thing about
getting men in a room, it was a figure of speech. I didn’t really mean I wanted
to get men in a room and speak to them. I was scared to death. But I knew I was
supposed to do it—so I did. And when I did, I found just how needed it was—and
how easily men could be helped. It launched a speaking element of my life that
I hadn’t pursued or manufactured. Sure, I had to do work, don’t get me wrong.
But God brought the opportunity to me. He put the burden in my heart. My job was
not to run away and hide from it—even when I was so afraid to do it.
So the lesson there is if God puts
some opportunity in front of you—even if you think it is miles out of your
comfort zone—think really hard before saying “no” to it. If I had declined, I
would have missed so much.
And there is a timing factor to it.
I spoke at a children’s ministry conference, presenting teachers with easy and
concrete ways they can increase the effectiveness of their teaching, and a
woman came up to me after I was finished. Now, I wasn’t the main speaker. I was
just teaching a workshop. She told me
how much she’d learned and how excited she was—and how this is the type of
thing she’d been looking for at the conference—but hadn’t found until our
session. Then she asked something I never forgot. “Where have you been?” The
question took me off guard. I knew what she was saying. She saw the gray at my
temples—and the fact that I had something to say—but I wasn’t on the main
speaker roster. I was a “no name” to her. “I’ve been raising my family.” That was
all I could say.
Here are the lessons I took away
from that. One, don’t force a platform before you’re ready. Believe me, I wish
I’d have been ready when I was younger.
But God knew when I was ready—and he opened the door. Two, if you’ve got
kids at home—they’re your priority. Be really careful about doing something
that will hurt your influence at home or the time you should be having with
your mate and kids.
Some people work so hard to build a
platform—at the expense of their marriage and personal peace and their kids.
They’re not just building a platform—they’re building a scaffold. And they’ll
hang themselves on it if they aren’t careful. Your years with the kids are
short. And life is too long to live with the regret of knowing you weren’t the
parent you could have been because you were too busy building a platform.
When the time was right for my
fiction to be published—it happened. It was so clearly God’s timing, I wish I
could tell you about it. Sure, I wished it was sooner, but I see how smart God
was with his perfect timing. I couldn’t make my fiction take off before the
time was right—and when the time was right I couldn’t mess it up. We’ve got to
trust God with all this. Work hard—of course.
Learn the craft—absolutely. And
work at being the consistent—real—Christian you should be. Yes, you’ll likely
need a platform…but don’t build it at the expense of your family. Yes, you’ll
likely need a platform, but be careful not to start building a platform before
you’ve built the person. Make sense?
I know your three sons are now
grown, but how did you balance your writing and speaking engagements when your
sons were younger and still at home?
I’m glad you’re zeroing in on this
because I think it’s important. My two older boys were in college when the speaking
really started. My priority was my kids—so God in his grace didn’t really bring
the speaking opportunities until later.
And it makes sense, doesn’t it?
Should I really be out telling people how to raise their kids when mine aren’t
raised yet? I think some try to get into a speaking ministry a bit young—and it
is something to be really careful about.
For the last few years, my wife
usually travels with me when I speak, unless it’s a men’s retreat or a writer’s
conference. This is a really important thing. We stay close. Have time
together. Go out on a date after I’m done speaking.
With the writing, I have to be
careful not to push it into the evening. My wife is good about helping me stay
balanced. I usually write off in a quiet spot or behind a closed door, but my
wife and kids have to be my first priority. If I don’t get that right—what do I
really have to share with others? I heard a writer say once “My kids know when
I’m on a deadline—and my door is shut—that I’m not to be bothered.” They
laughed and remarked how that it wasn’t unusual for their door to be shut like
that for several weeks. The audience laughed. And I grieved for her. She’d
missed the mark. She was so busy with her message for the masses she didn’t
think about the message she was sending to her kids. No book we’ll ever write
is more important than our kids.
My youngest is twenty-three now,
living at home and studying to be a paramedic. I still read him chapters after
I’ve written them to see what he thinks. Try to keep the kids involved and part
of the process. Incorporate their suggestions where you can. I’ve had input from each of my sons that have
prompted me to rewrite a chapter or section of a book. And the writing was
better for it.
What advice would you offer to
beginning writers?
I think I’ve learned some of my most
valuable tips at writing conferences. If you can attend a conference… do it. I
love teaching fiction—and if you’re like me—actually hearing someone explain a
technique helps you learn faster and better.
If you are a Christian—and you’re writing for Christians—watch your walk. Be the real deal. Don’t cut short your time with God so that you can write.
Don’t be discouraged. If this is
part of God’s purpose for your life, then you can be sure he is going to help.
And if he’s helping you—that’s a good thing. I’m always praying he infuses my
writing with his power.
Keep writing. Have credible people
read it and give you feedback. Often a writer’s
conference will offer a critique of part of your manuscript. This can be hard,
but I learned some valuable lessons this way.
And if your passion is for
fiction—don’t discount want you’re doing. Stories are powerful. They can
convict, instruct, inspire, and encourage people more effectively than
non-fiction many times. Keep learning so you can tell your story in the most
compelling way.
Thank you, Tim! Your words will be
an encouragement to all our readers.
