By Laura BennettSaturday 3 Aug 2024Hope AfternoonsCultureReading Time: 4 minutes
Carolyn Miller is a popular fiction author and the organiser for the Omega Writers Conference being held in Sydney next month.
Key points:
- Omega is Australia’s only Christian writers conference.
- Carolyn says that for her, writing can be an isolating experience.
- “It’s actually what I feel like God’s designed me to do,” Carolyn said of writing.
- “I just feel like God has to come into every part of it,” Carolyn said.
- Hear the full conversation in the listener above.
She joined Hope Afternoon’s Laura Bennett to discuss the craft of writing, and why Australian writers are in for a treat.
“We love to be able to connect authors, whether they’re pre-published or published from around Australia and connect them with like-minded people,” Carolyn said of the conference.
“It’s actually Australia’s only Christian writers conference, so it’s kind of pretty special in that regard.
Omega is Australia’s only Christian writers conference.
“Not only do we want them to get to know other authors who understand what they do, but also to equip them and to inspire them with further skills and everything that they need in order to go to the next level in terms of their writing.”
Writing can be isolating
Carolyn says that for her, writing has been an isolating experience, which is why events like Omega Writers Conference are vital to the industry.
“It’s quite an isolating experience and when I first started, I didn’t know of any other Christian authors, which is why getting connected with something like Omega writers was awesome because I finally found my tribe,” she said.
Carolyn says that for her, writing can be an isolating experience.
“I found people who understood me, who just understood that my fictional characters are real and that they really gave me a lot of skills and encouragement and support.
“Especially as a Christian, sometimes what you’re writing is not something that you can necessarily share at a local writer’s group because you’ve got a different heart behind it or a different purpose sometimes, and so to find people who truly understand that is so beneficial.”
How a writing career begins
Carolyn Miller has written 40+ books which have taken her all over the world. But where did it all start?
“Oh, here’s a story!” Carolyn said.
“I was watching the Vancouver Winter Olympics back in 2010, and I saw this Australian girl walk into the closing ceremony holding hands with a North American guy, and I’m wondering, how did two people in elite sports from different countries actually connect?”
Carolyn Miller is a popular fiction author and organiser of the Omega Writers Conference.
Long story short, Carolyn tried to find out who they were and how they’d met and ended up dreaming about the couple.
“I ended up writing down these amazingly vivid dreams that I had, so I ended up with 155,000 words and then I’m like, what do I do with this?”
Eventually Carolyn learned more about the writing craft and attended an Omega Writers conference.
“Since then, I’ve had that book published and about 40 other books published, and I just love writing,” she said.
“It’s actually what I feel like God’s designed me to do,” Carolyn said of writing.
“It’s actually what I feel like God’s designed me to do, so it’s awesome and it’s great when other people who feel that way can find others who understand that.”
How faith impacts writing
It’s an interesting thing to be able to write in any genre and then be able to blend in a faith perspective. For Carolyn, faith is integral to what she does.
“Because I write Christian romance, I feel like the Christians you see in that sort of romance should be more than just tokenistic, and I feel like they should be relatable and real,” she said.
“There’s imperfect characters who are on their journey to following Jesus or whether they’re unsaved or they are saved.
“I just feel like God has to come into every part of it,” Carolyn said.
“I just feel like God has to come into every part of it, so it’s more than just a tokenistic prayer or attending church on Sunday, it’s like, okay, some of these real-life issues; how do you forgive someone?
“How do you deal with difficult relationships, whether it’s family or workplace or whatever? How do you trust God in the midst of that?
“A lot of what I write is stuff that I’ve personally been working through… it’s awesome to actually receive emails and messages from people around the world who actually go, “Thank you so much for writing that, because I used to judge people and then I read this and it’s like, wow.””
Hear the full conversation in the listener above.
Article provided with thanks to Laura Bennett. Laura is the host of Hope Afternoons and producer of a number of our podcasts, including UNDISTRACTED with Laura Bennett.
Feature image: Photo by CanvaPro