For any Christian writer, being effective and impactful in his or her writing is a desirable goal which not many can accomplish despite having many books and other publications to their credit.
Ghanian novelist, poet and publisher, Lawrence Darmani who spoke at the webinar organised by Media Associates International (MAI) on September 12, 2023, on “How to be an Effective and Impactful Christian Writer” shared valuable insights based on his experience as an author of over 30 books, including the Grief Child that won him the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize as best first book from Africa in 1992.
He spoke after being introduced by MAI President, John Maust who noted that effective writing requires an effort quoting Dr. Samuel Johnson’s words that “what is written without effort is generally read without pleasure.”
To be an effective writer, Darmani who is the CEO of Step Publishers in Accra stated that it’s not merely a matter of interest, but of “divine calling that comes with diligence and excellence” which involves successful production of a desired or intended result.
According to Darmani, effective writing requires being attentive, persistent and focused.
He stressed the need to embrace writing as a step-by-step process, against the idea of writing it all at once, adding that there are rigours involved in excellent and effective writing.
With a quote that likened writers to travailing women, Darmani said writers should not be lazy people as there will be a need for a lot of careful writing, rewriting and editing of one’s work by one’s self.
He also implored writers to always ‘enjoy working with their editors’.
On being impactful, Darmani gave examples of books and writers who had written with a purpose to impact and who, also had given the world what may never be forgotten.
He likened impactful writing to some ‘purposeful’ work done to achieve a goal, other than to ‘beat the air’ (1 Cor 9:26).
According to him, a writer must always put ideas together, using information garnered around him, with the hope of giving hope to the hopeless, sharing information to live a godly life, and above all, helping the cultivation of a life that betters communities.
To create this impact, he further highlighted that a writer must have personal mission and vision statements, strong and evocative themes, creativity, objective information, and an undiluted God-centered knowledge of the truth and prayer.
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