Say One Thing

Writing Tips

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By Ryan Wentzel
February 01, 2024
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Effective stories have one dominant message. You may have to write a first draft to discover the message, but there should be a single meaning that has priority over all the other meanings in the story. If you can’t tell the message in a sentence or less after you have written the final draft, you haven’t written the final draft.

— Donald M. Murray, Writing to Deadline: The Journalist at Work (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2000), 125.

The Weary Pilgrim

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Ryan writes for weary pilgrims learning to follow Jesus through the wilderness. For nearly nine years, he served as a lead pastor at a church in Escondido, California. He currently works as a chaplain with a hospice organization in San Diego.

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