I have been working on and off with an instructor-turned-friend I met at a Writers' Conference a couple of years ago. We email regularly, but she's from Georgia and has a super-sugary-sweet accent, so I prefer to talk to her on the phone.
Her job is to mentor and help people start or build their business with a ministry focus. (It's called "Profit from your Message." If you want more information, check out her website:
www.profitfromyourmessage.com) One of the major starting points to this as far as writers and speakers go is developing a "platform."
I've been writing for years.
I've been a part of a couple of speaking gigs.
The idea of having a "platform" or a focus for my writing (and sporadic speaking) is not a new idea for me.
But actually having a single focus isn't something I seem to be able to nail down.
(can someone say ADD?)
I've written for parenting publications across the country with humor and help for moms of young kids. I've written informational articles for a hospice care publication. I've taken photos and written editorials for my local paper. I've written human interest and news stories for a larger, daily newspaper. I've written online articles for health websites, education websites and for Pampers. I've written for fun. I've written on serious topics like domestic violence. I've kept an informal blog. I've mentored young authors. I've written poetry. I've written a children's story. I've been a ghost writer. I've used my given name. I've used a pen name.
In looking through my writing resume over the last 13 years, it is safe to say that I've been all over the place. (And I think probably drives my very focused-friend in Georgia a little nuts when she is dealing with me as a client.)
It appears as if my "platform" is my lack of focus.
But lack of focus isn't my writing story.
Or my life story.
I am blessed to be a character in so many stories.
For me, each day is a page in a chapter of a bigger story. It is a chance for me to make a difference on that page of the story. A chance for me to change my own story. A chance for me to be a part of someone else's story. And occasionally, I am assigned to write about that story.
It's been an honor.
And I'd like to do more of it. Writing, that is.
So many of you have your own stories and passions. Your own life "platforms." Things that God has placed on your heart to be a part of, to share with others and invest in the lives around you. Over the years, your stories have inspired me to live out my own, only better.
Not everyone is interested in every story that is my own or that I share with others. But that isn't how it is supposed to work anyway.
I can't save the world.
I can't even save the population of people in the stories that deal with issues that keep me awake at night.
But I have a story and I can share it. And I can make a difference to someONE's story that I enter into as a character.
And even if I don't change the world with my story, maybe I can help to create change in the world of that one person who needed me to share my story.
And you can too.
I'd like to hear your story. What are the words behind the cover? What chapter are you in?
What's your story?
What story are you a key character in?
How would you like to change the world?
"I tell you the truth,
whatever you did for
ONE
of the least of these brothers of mine,
you did for me."
~Matthew 25:40
