Ten Ways Seekerville Made Me A Better Writer

with guest Virginia Carmichael (aka Mary Jane Hathaway).

Hi, everybody!  I’m so excited to be back in Seekerville. It’s the one website that has really shaped me as a writer and here are just a few ways that’s happened. 

1.) Seekerville taught me to ‘walk on water’ 

A beginning writer is filled with self-doubt. A seasoned writer is filled with self-doubt. This job has a lot of what I call ‘walking on water.'

My husband drives off to work and he knows his employment will be open, his boss will be there, his crew will be there, and the day’s work is pretty much going to be what he’s done for the last twenty years. No real surprises.

That’s not the way this business works. EVERYTHING changes. But there’s no reason to be afraid. Seekerville is the place I realized that we’ve been given a divine calling to write. Change is good. Pray hard, have a little faith, and don’t look down at the waves. 

2.) Seekerville exposed me to a variety of authors.

This might not sound like much, but we all know that writers have to be readers. Unlike some writing blogs, it’s never been just the biggest sellers or a very small circle of the ‘old guard’. I’m so thankful for the many and varied authors that have come through this site, and all the wisdom they’ve given us so willingly!

3.) It’s not all sunshine and roses. 

When you first start writing, you float around on a bright and shiny cloud of optimism! You know your book will be brilliant. You know you’ll find an agent and sell to a Big Five House. (Seasoned writers are all laughing loudly at this.) Seekerville has never shied away from tackling the tough topics like rejections, writer’s block, time constraints, low sales, etc. The writer’s life isn’t all brownies, hot coffee, and unlimited writing time. Sometimes it’s bruised bananas, tap water, and six kids with the flu. And that’s okay. Persistence is key, and Seekerville prepares you for the long haul (with friendship and virtual coffee).

4.) Sometimes that “hand up” is one you can touch.

I’ve probably told this story a dozen times here and there, but way back in 2011 (or was it 2012?) I won a printer on Seekerville. Back then, everything was sent by mail, so every time I queried an agent or sent a partial, I had to pay .10 a sheet at the library. It doesn’t sound like much, but as a struggling young family living on one income, that turned into $50 or more a month when I was sending out partials and fulls. When I won that printer, it helped me tremendously. (I also edit better on paper so that is another way that prize made me a better writer!) Can you believe it’s still going strong? Seekerville isn’t just a place where people type into the void. The support is real, tangible, and life-changing. I can’t promise you’ll win a printer, but you might win some really good books, and those can be just as life-changing.

5.) How the book comes into being is not the important bit.

Before I discovered Seekerville, I thought that if I made a bullet point list of plot points, then plotted it out in a short form of thirty pages, then handwrote it into a notebook, and then transcribed it, the book would be better. Is it any wonder it took me two years to write my first book???

Seekerville taught me that every writer has a different method. The typewriter isn’t better than pen. Mac isn’t better than PC. Scrivener isn’t better than Word. Plotting isn’t better than pantsing. Writing from A-Z isn’t better than writing scenes as they occur to you. You get the idea… The book is the important part, and how you get there doesn’t really matter.

6.) Community is key.

The writing life can be very isolating. No regular person wants to hear about your character dilemmas, or how you have to erase three chapters because you realized your villain wasn’t mean enough. You need someone to talk to, preferably a whole group of someones! If you can’t find the right group of writer friends, keep looking. When you find it, you’ll realize that having these people behind you is the difference between night and day. They’ll pray for you, cheer for you, go to bat for you, listen to you when you’re obsessed with a book, and hold your hand when things go wrong. There’s no substitute for that great group of writing friends. 

7.) Craft Must be Learned

OK, I may be speaking for myself here, but a lot of what I understood writing to be when I first started was simply wrong. I’m not talking about grammar, formatting, and fonts. I’d had plenty of time in academia to know how to use a dictionary. I’m talking about story structure, POV, switching perspectives, the hero’s journey, inspirational theme, saggy middles, engaging the reader, starting with a bang, a satisfying ending, etc. There are a few instinctually good writers who can simply pick up a pen and craft a masterpiece. The rest of us have to learn it. Seekerville is responsible for 85% of my understanding of craft. The other 15% comes from books recommended by Seekerville posts.

8.)  Word Count Is Key.

Another reason it took me two years to write my first book was that I didn’t really grasp how connected word count was to actually finishing. I know, you’re rolling your eyes. 

I crafted what I thought was a masterful first three chapters. (Let’s not debate whether it really was masterful, haha.) Then I’d learn something new, and go back and revise. Then I’d write a few paragraphs, have a week or so break because I was a busy mom and life was crazy, then write a few more paragraphs. When I looked back at those first few chapters, I saw things I wanted to change. So I’d spend precious writing time revising… again. 

Lather, rinse, and repeat for eighteen months. When I read a Seekerville comment on 1K a day word counts (I think that was you, Ruthy) the light FINALLY DAWNED. Good grief, I might still be revising those first three chapters six years later if I hadn’t read that comment!

9.) Genre is everything.

In 2011,  I simply wrote the book that had appeared in my head. I had no idea that what I was calling romance, was actually Christian romance. Having a Christian element suddenly slotted my book into a different category, one that most agents weren’t interested in selling. Also, most books in that genre weren’t the five hundred page tomes I liked to read. (I blame Julie Lessman for that misunderstanding, haha!) They were more three hundred or less. 

Part of writing to sell is understanding the market. Knowing the genre of the book you’ve written (and adding or deleting, if you must) is absolutely key in finding a publishing home for your book. Seekerville helped me understand not only how to write, but what it was exactly that I had written. 

10.) It’s okay to not have all the answers. 

Sometimes, years after you’ve written a book, you realize the ending was THIS CLOSE to being fantastic, but you simply weren’t a good enough writer at the time to get to it. And that’s okay. There’s no shame in looking back on old books and seeing flaws you didn’t see before. That means you’ve grown and changed as a writer. Seekerville reminds me that we’re writers with a calling, souls on a journey. We do the very best we can, where we are, right now. It’s not about awards, royalties, or headlines. It’s about reaching readers with a story and honoring the Giver of this gift called writing. 


Happy TENTH anniversary, Seekerville! The original Seekers, the blog posters, the commenters, the community… I wouldn’t be the writer I am today without you!

What about you, Villagers? Do any of these ten ways resonate? How has Seekerville made you a better writer-or reader?

Virginia/Mary Jane is giving away a copy of Autumn's Majesty: Seasons of Faith Book Two to one commenter today! Winner announced in the next Weekend Edition.

Can the town busybody learn to keep a secret? 

Vivacious Jamie Lawson has a lot in common with her first-grade students. She’s bright, curious, energetic, has a big heart… and lacks any kind of filter. Her friends laugh about how she can’t help sharing what’s on her mind, but her mother warns her that trouble will find a woman who can’t hold her tongue.

The day Jamie accidentally breaks her best friend’s trust, she finally realizes that what is charming in a six-year-old, just isn’t as adorable in an adult. She vows that with God’s help, she’s going to listen more and talk less, especially around handsome Theo Delis. He’ll be helping her run the Lawson Family Blueberry Farm for the summer, and it will be the perfect time for Jamie to learn a little introspection. His serious, no-nonsense demeanor is the polar opposite of her gabby personality, and she’s sure he’ll be drawn to her new, aloof personality. 

But as the heat of an Arcadia Valley summer settles in, Jamie discovers there’s more to wisdom than silence and more to love than mystery. 

When an old friend needs confidential support can Jamie finally learn to lead with her heart, and not her mouth? 


A story of deep friendship, laughter, and learning to listen to grace.

Virginia was born near the Rocky Mountains and although she has traveled around the world, the wilds of Colorado run in her veins. A big fan of the wide open sky and all four seasons, she believes in embracing the small moments of everyday life. A home schooling mom of six children who rarely wear shoes, those moments usually involve a lot of noise, a lot of mess, or a whole bunch of warm cookies. Virginia holds degrees in Linguistics and Religious Studies from the University of Oregon. She lives with her habanero-eating husband, Crusberto, who is her polar opposite in all things except faith. They've learned to speak in short-hand code and look forward to the day they can actually finish a sentence. In the meantime, Virginia thanks God for the laughter and abundance of hugs that fill her day as she plots her next book. She writes under the pen names of Mary Jane Hathaway and Virginia Carmichael.

We brought along some Villagers to say

 Happy Birthday today and cupcakes!