Blog

by Charlie Wolcott

In the last six weeks, I have gone through each piece of the Armor of God. In January, I wrote about the Israelite War Cry, “Rak Chazak.” The topic of spiritual warfare has always been one that grabs my attention. It is a topic that is challenging to grasp and one that few know how to prepare for except when in the middle of it. Why? Because we think in physical terms and we are dealing with a spiritual enemy. In fact, a friend of mine has pointed out that in all of world history, every army has always using war games to train for how to expect a response from the enemy, how to handle enemy movement and tactics, and how to be able to respond and act in certain situations. Every army, except one: the church. Why? Because how can you practice against a spiritual foe, with spiritual weapons, in a spiritual battle? I didn’t think about it in this light when I started a personal project but when this point was revealed to me, I discovered that my project does this very thing: giving us a tool for how we can visualize and prepare for spiritual battle through a series of “what if this?” situations? or “how might this look?” questions.

What is this project? I wrote a novel. It is a story about spiritual warfare, a story that intended to reveal the nature of what spiritual warfare is like and how I could use the art of storytelling to explore how different people might respond to certain situations. Thus began the journey of the writing of a novel titled Call to Arms.

When another friend of mine wrote a fictional biography of his own life and allowed me to read his first draft, he ended up with an epic tale that sucked me into his world. And as I gave him feedback, he recommended that I try to write. So I did. All my previous writing attempts were terrible. I could not come up with an original storyline or an original character that was not literally myself or someone I knew. But I decided to give it a shot anyway, and in three months, I had a 280-page epic story. But God told me to set it aside and started on another project: what would end up becoming Call to Arms. This was April 2007.

I wrote the first draft at 250 pages in just six weeks but the draft was so bad I had to scrap the whole thing, keep a few characters and some plot scenes but re-write the entire thing. Then God gave me a better idea on how to illustrate spiritual warfare, using two separate stories and slowly weave them together. It worked. I now had a means of showing how people would respond and act in certain situations while also showing what the spiritual side may look like. There are literary liberties I took, but I sought to keep what happens in line with a Scriptural basis. And after several more drafts and revisions, the story came together.

Over time, I met with a Christian self-publisher who really liked my work and offered me a contract. Still having a lot to learn about the industry, I accepted, but I soon learned they did not do the final editing job I was expecting, which was due to my inexperience and understanding of the system. My book was out for a time but felt like it was not yet finished. That was January 2011. In May 2012, I got the chance to go to the Colorado Christian Writers Conference where I met with OakTara Publishing, a small traditional publisher who loved my work from the get go. They asked for a revised manuscript (some new names, and a better editing job before they got it) and a new title. With this, Call to Arms was ready to go.

But I had more work going on. I already had a sequel in progress and to publish the sequel, I would need the same publisher. OakTara wanted the sequel as well. With a different publisher, I would have to chip in some more dough. As the contract with OakTara was finalizing, I realized I needed to split my 2nd book into two which was perfect because it gave me a nice trilogy. And OakTara gave me a contract for all three books.

Then on May 1, 2014, Call to Arms was released and I will have two more books coming. But my journey does not end here. God opened the door for me to be a speaker this year at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference on a topic that is dear to my heart: spiritual warfare. And God timed it so that on the same day this post is published, I will be giving my workshop. I am speaking today about how to use writing as a tool to train a generation of warriors who will contend for their faith and contend for souls come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. A study of Sun Tzu’s Art of War and the Book of Nehemiah provide the foundation of the talk I will be giving. I don’t have space to share the basis of that here though.

Writing has been a skill that I never knew I had until the last few years. I still look back and remember that when I was 12 years old, I still had no reading comprehension. I could tell you what was on what page, but I could not tell you what was going on or why. And God has brought me to a point where now I can share my knowledge and my passion with you at Worldview Warriors and I can share what God has shown me through my novels.

Call to Arms is currently available at the publisher Oak Tara and at Amazon in Paperback and Kindle. It will soon be available at Barnes and Noble online in paperback and Nook and at Christian Book Distributors but it is taking time for them to get it all set up. My second book Rak Chazak is currently targeting a release date in September and my third book The Mighty Gibborim is now in the editing phase and I am expecting that one to be ready for release sometime early next year. Together, The Battle Cry Saga will keep pages turning through intense action and ‘gutsy realities,’ all the while teaching you Biblical principles without preaching. If you have enjoyed my posts with Worldview Warriors, you do not want to miss this book.