What would you write if no one would ever read it?

Welcome today's guest

Keely Brooke Keith

  First of all, I’m beyond thrilled to be on Seekerville today! I’m equal parts published fiction writer and fiction fangirl, so this is crazy fun!

I’m supposed to be promoting The Writer’s Book Launch Journal, one of the several resources I created for writers. So, the plan was to come here today with a beautifully crafted bullet point list of book promotion tips. But as I sat down to write, God reminded me

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of how and why I created these resources. So instead of telling you what the Guided Journals for Writers can do for you, let’s talk about what creating them did for me.

Last summer after completing my seventh novel, I felt depleted and lost as a writer. I had to force myself to write or check email or even look at a book. My fields needed to fallow. God said rest. I said but but but… oh, all right.

I spent weeks in prayerful introspection, journaling my feelings. Eventually, my thoughts cleared and my spirit calmed. Then something unexpected happened.

Questions began to pop into my mind, one by one. Questions I couldn’t ignore.

Why do you write?

What would you write if no one would ever read it?

I’d spend days contemplating and scribbling out the answers. Once answered, another question would come. Finally, one stumped me.

What is the core message God has given you to share and who needs to hear that message?

I’d never thought about my core message as an author. I first started writing stories for funsies. I wanted to craft uplifting, unique stories to encourage and entertain readers. Of course, I made sure every story had a solid theme, but I simply wrote what came out of my heart and let it fall where it fell. That couldn’t amount to something as weighty as a core message.

Or so I thought.

Keely Brooke Keith

During my time of prayerful introspection, the Lord led me to sift through each of my stories, searching for a core message. I felt silly analyzing my own books, but there it was in a mass of index cards and Post-It Notes. No matter the characters and the plot, my stories had a core message: You can trust God.

In The Land Uncharted, Lydia and Connor had to trust God’s sovereignty. In Uncharted Redemption, Levi and Mandy had to trust God’s forgiveness. In Uncharted Inheritance, Bethany and Everett had to trust God with their future. In Christmas with the Colburns, Lydia had to trust God with her family. When I went back in time to tell the history of the Land, the same theme flowed. In Aboard Providence, Jonah and Marian had to trust God’s unfailing provision.

Once He so graciously opened my eyes to the core message He gave me to share, I poured over a file of notes from readers with new clarity. Had others picked up on my core message when I’d been oblivious? I’d heard from readers in their eighties and in their late teens, but most were in their thirties and forties. Many seemed similar to me in temperament, ideals, and dreams. Soon, I began to see the running theme in their notes.

The commonalities in my readers were uncanny. I learned my average reader grew up reading or watching Little House on the Prairie. Though there was a 50/50 chance her parents had divorced, she dreamed of someday marrying a man like Charles Ingalls. She was raised in a Christian home or was around the Christian faith enough it affected her thoughts and conscience. She might be a devout Christian now, or she might be seeking God (whether she realizes it or not). She loves to learn but doesn’t want to be preached at. She enjoys American history and is enthralled by herbal remedies and organic gardening, even if she doesn’t have the time or skill to keep a houseplant alive.

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She wishes life were simpler and fantasizes about throwing her phone out the car window on the commute from work to her kid’s ballgame or her zillionth errand or a chemo appointment. In all of this yearning for a simple life, she curls up in bed at night with a book to escape the clutches of click bait and reality television. She might not be in her own bed. I’ve received enough letters from readers to know it’s likely she’s reading in a hospital bed or sitting beside a loved one who is ill.

The book she chose to read tonight probably has a sweeping landscape on the cover and maybe a woman in a dress from a bygone era. It’s usually a paperback, but it might be an ebook because she didn’t have the energy to get to the bookstore or library. If it is an ebook, she wishes it were a physical book for the feel of the paper and the smell of the ink. She imagines reading it by the light of an oil lamp with the thud of horse hooves stamping onto her property, announcing the return of her faithful husband from some noble and manly adventure.

She might have a husband who is truly noble and faithful, or he might have left her for a career or mistress or alcohol or Heaven, or he might not be in the picture yet or never will be. She might have regrets or she might be at peace with her relationships. Regardless, she believes people—men and women—can and should treat each other in a chaste, temperate, charitable, diligent, patient, kind, and humble way. She wants those qualities exemplified in the books she reads while she dreams of her own noble adventures.

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Wherever she reclines and whatever pain she is in, she reads for comfort and encouragement. She reads to know she is not alone. She reads for someone to show her: you can trust God even with this—whatever her “this” might be.

I’ve heard writers muse about writing for an audience of one. While that sounds uber spiritual and famously singable, I don’t write for God. I pray I write for God’s glory, meaning what I write points the reader to God’s redemptive plan. But I write for the readers who need to hear the core message He has given me.

How about you? I know we have both writers and readers here. If you’re a writer, what is your core message? If you’re a reader, is there a certain message you hope to find while reading fiction?

Share your thoughts in the comments. I’m giving away a copy of The Writer’s Book Launch Journal if the winning commenter is a writer or paperback copy of The Land 
Uncharted if the winner is a reader. Or both if you’re like me: equal parts fiction writer and fiction fangirl.

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Keely Brooke Keith is the author of the Uncharted series. Her novels are known for blending genres in unconventional ways. Keely also creates resources for writers, including The Writer’s Book Launch Guide and The Writer’s Purpose Journal. When she isn’t writing, Keely enjoys playing bass guitar, preparing homeschool lessons, and collecting antique textbooks. Keely resides with her husband and their daughter on a hilltop south of Nashville. She is a member of ACFW.

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