Belinda Pollard, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy celebrate four years of the podcast by going back to the beginning… our very first episode, WHAT IS GRACEWRITING?, which continues to be one of our most popular. At this time in history, for some reason God seems to be moving in a new way among creatives, using us to reach places and people that might not be open to other forms of communication. Whether you’ve joined Gracewriters recently or been with us from the start, we hope you enjoy touching base with who we are and what we’re all about.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.

Episode summary:

• How did Gracewriters begin, and what is Gracewriting?
• Changing the way Christians – and Jesus! – are portrayed and perceived in popular culture.
• How the idea for a Gracewriters Podcast developed, and the value of looking at the writing process, in fellowship, from a Christian perspective.
• How Belinda, Alison and Donita got involved in writing in the first place.
• Why we can sometimes find it hard to pray about our writing - worrying that we are "bothering God" - when in reality he loves to hear from us.
• The particular opportunities and difficulties for Christians who write for mainstream markets, and how we can work as a team.

In this episode, Belinda Pollard, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy interview Buck Storm, the critically-acclaimed award-winning author of 8 literary Americana novels, who is also a songwriter and recording artist. Buck dives deep into the issues of engaging with biblical and cultural research, and writing from the heart about God’s extraordinary love.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.

Episode summary:

• Buck’s process of starting with a blank page and seeing where the story takes him.
• How creating cadence in songwriting transfers across to cadence in fiction, especially in dialogue.
• Buck’s habit of reading his books aloud to a family member once the draft is complete, and how seeing their reaction to the story informs his further work on the manuscript.
• How Buck wrote and researched The Light, the story of a broken, powerless person in the 50 days between the Resurrection and Pentecost – and how the process differed to his more intellectual book The List which looked at Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea coming to faith through prophecy. Authenticity and the power of research, plus the reactions of readers to the characters.
• Working at avoiding using a Western lens to understand biblical background.
• The relevance of OT prophecy today, and the power of how Jesus united Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who were from opposing parties.
• Changing popular culture as a writer, one person at a time, by sharing your heart with them on the page.
• Not writing to “teach a theme” but just to tell a story and share the love of God. Not knowing the theme until the book is finished, or even until the reader tells you what it means to them.
• Writing on automatic pilot vs the times when God really digs deep into the writer. Taking time out when it gets too mechanical.
• Praying for our writing, and the practice of praying without ceasing.

In this episode, Belinda Pollard and Donita Bundy interview romance novelist (and podcast co-host) Alison Joy. Alison writes romance novels set in Australia and the South Pacific. She shares a variety of research techniques she has developed to help her create fictional locations, events and characters that ring true.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.

Episode summary:

• How Alison got an idea for a novel series from an exercise class.
• Creating small town communities on the page using a combination of research and personal experience.
• Different ways to use recurring characters in a series.
• Using actual locations, buildings, sites, facilities to inspire authentic fictional ones.
• How Alison produced an actual country song for book promotion.
• Different research techniques used by Belinda and Donita – interviews, travel, experiences, googling, historical research.
• The benefits and pitfalls of research – how it enriches your writing and your life, but you can end up down rabbit holes!
• Coping with the uncertainty of whether we should be writing, especially when we don’t write “Christian” books.