He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? ~Micah 6:8

How to write a best seller

And why I have not tried…

“The best way to write a best-selling book is to know who your audience is (and what they want) before you start writing. You should know everything there is to know about your readers in advance, and then write your book. Most people do it backwards.” ~John Locke

A few years ago I wanted to write a book. No great surprise there, I suppose. Lots of homeschoolers want to write a book. I think it has something to do with our love of language and our willingness to communicate via literary language. I used the Bible as our primary textbook for homeschooling. We studied English, Science, Geography, Art and History using God’s word. For a season we used many of the Heart of Wisdom unit studies (which I wholeheartedly recommend) before I modified the HOW methodology to suit our family. Our family bible study pages are a result of that.

Family Bible Study

I wanted to share how we studied the Bible in our family. I saw many parents desiring to impart a love of God’s word to their children but had no idea how to go about it. I observed countless parents who led the family in Bible study using consumable, pre digested bible studies yet they didn’t know how to study the scriptures for themselves. I wanted to write how we did things in our family.

Unlike some other committed womenaka Robin Sampson & Anne Elliott I seem to lack the consistency to write. Maybe the desire was there but it was not the right season for me at that time. Only God knows. But now, a few years later I am glad that I didn’t write Family Bible Study Companion. I’m glad I am not writing a how-to book for homeschoolers or parents. Because, simply, I would be doing it all backwards, as John Locke would say.

On the other hand, I’m not sure I do agree with his statement. Oh it might be correct when attempting to write a best seller but what if that is not one’s goal? What if my desire is to simply share a facet of our study habits? Does it change things?

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with the above quote?

2 Comments

Bek on July 4, 2011 at 10:29 pm

I’m sure the statement is probably right but I would never be able to write with that intention. I write where the Lord leads and what is in my heart. How can you be inspired by doing it any other way? I would love to one day write a book but I will leave that in God’s hands as to whether I do or not. I find it funny though that homeschool mums do have this desire to write, but don’t we have enough on our plates? 😉
- Susan on July 5, 2011 at 10:37 pm
  
  Yes, I’ve always been a little in awe of those homeschool mums who do it all AND write a book. Oh, I’m sure that they haven’t got it all together as much as we think they do… but still, I couldn’t do it. 🙂