Devotional Writing
I began freelancing in August of
2009. Since that time, I have been blessed to have had numerous pieces
published in various types of publications. But of all the different types of
writing I do, perhaps my favorite is devotional writing. To date, I have had over
75 devotions published in seven different publications–The Upper Room, The
Secret Place (Judson Press), Open Windows (Lifeway), Reflections (Smyth and
Helwys) , Word Aglow (Pentecostal Publishing House), along with an on-line
devotional site and two devotional books (one in each book.)
In this blog and the next, I will
share some of my devotional writing tips, both in how to write devotions and
how to market them. Today’s post will focus on writing devotions.
When you write a devotion you place a magnifying glass on a
very small part of Scripture–a word (like one of God’s traits such as love or
faithfulness), a phrase, or a truth. The Upper Room writer’s guidelines puts it
well when they say, “Make only one point; think snapshot, not movie.”
The first line of the body of the devotion should be
something that will catch the reader’s attention. You can give a line of dialogue,
ask a question, or tell a very short story. From time to time I post devotions
in this blog that I have had published. If you are interested in devotional
writing, you can look back at them and see the use of these various
opening lines.
Other tips include:
Spotlight unique verses. The first devotion I ever had
accepted was based on a rather obscure verse in Zechariah. Devotional
publications get fewer submissions from the Old Testament than from the New
Testament. Lines from famous poems or famous quotes are not as desirable (in
fact, some publications will not accept them.) And make it personal–your
experience is unique. Teach, don’t
preach; avoid words like “you should”, “you need to”, “you must” Instead say, ‘I
have”, “we can”, etc.
The format and word count you will use differ with different
devotional publications. Read and follow their guidelines. Get in the habit of
writing devotions and they will start to flow. I have been known to pull my car
into a parking lot and write a devotion down on a napkin when I have an inspiration.
I know if I don’t get it down on paper, I may forget. I keep a word document on
my computer full of these inspirations which I write up when I have the time
and submit later. In the next blog post I will share places to submit devotions
and the types of rights you can sell.
