Written by Martin Wiles
One by one, I filtered through the email submissions and then, sadly, returned three-fourths of them. Recently, this has become a somewhat common occurrence. Why? The writers did not follow the guidelines.
For over a decade, I have served as the Managing Editor for a non-profit organization’s website. My duties include receiving submissions, ensuring they adhere to our guidelines, editing them as necessary, corresponding with writers, and scheduling the devotions on the website. However, the issue of guidelines increasingly keeps many of them from seeing the light of day on the website.
Our website makes the guidelines clear: provide an opening verse (one verse), write an opening paragraph that hooks the reader, write a second paragraph that explains the Bible verse, compose a final section that shows the reader how to apply the verse, and keep the entire piece under four hundred words. Easy enough … seemingly. We even give a sample for writers to peruse. We strive to communicate effectively because we want to serve as a platform that helps budding writers do what God has called them to do and to help them build their writing resume.
But more often than not, many submissions fail to follow two of the guidelines. Either the word count exceeds our limit, or the Hook is MIA. Some will make the necessary edits and return their submission. Others don’t want to make the effort and give up, or don’t like a particular guideline.
One writer submitted a devotion with several verses. When I returned it and explained that she needed to choose only one verse, she responded, “God gave me two verses, and I refuse to compromise.” There are times when we writers need to “die on a hill,” but this probably wasn’t it. And sometimes, we editors must let a submission die on a hill.
But writers aren’t the only ones who can ignore guidelines. I have seen students do it numerous times. As a middle school Language Arts teacher, I have given more low grades than I care to remember on research papers because students failed to follow the guidelines. They completely disregarded the MLA format and created their own. They forgot the in-text citations. Some even forget to include the Works Cited page. Having good information in the body of the paper doesn’t compensate for failing to follow directions.
Following the guidelines is essential for success in the writing and editing profession. As writers, we have the privilege of influencing thousands through our writing if we follow the guidelines of the places for which we write. If the publication’s guidelines cause us to compromise our beliefs, we shouldn’t submit our work. And if we are not willing to adjust our writing to fit the publication’s guidelines, submitting will also waste our time. But editors don’t get off the hook either. We must follow the guidelines established by the places for which we edit. Chicago Manual of Style may be our writing Bible, but house rules trump that.
Make sure you have followed the guidelines—for editing and writing—so God can use your writing for his Kingdom work.
Martin Wiles is an author, pastor, English teacher, freelance editor who resides in Greenwood, South Carolina. He is a Gold PEN member and PEN instructor, the managing editor for VineWords: Devotions and More, and the Managing Editor for Christian Devotions. He is the founder/editor of the internationally recognized devotion site, Love Lines from God. His most recent book, Grits, Grace, and Grands, is available on Amazon. He has also been published in numerous publications. He is the husband of one, the father of two, and the grandfather of seven.
Those who refuse to comply with the guidelines, when they are perfectly capable of doing so but need an attitude adjustment, are not necessarily following God’s call – they are meeting their own call. Succeeding over the challenge of, for example, a 400-word limit about a single verse is a great achievement. I have prepared 1000-character real estate listings for Instagram – it isn’t easy to create an engaging and full description of a property in such a limited format, but it was so satisfying when I did. A lot of it was making words do double-duty. Hard work does not have to be drudgery: With the right attitude, it can be joyful.