My writing group liked my 36-page chapter called “Born-Again in Bakersfield” but they said there are too many Bible quotes in it. Too much preachiness…
In one sentence, I list three parables that I have always liked: “We heard about the prodigal son, the widow looking for her lost coin, the seeds that fell on rocky ground and didn’t sprout.”
“We get the reference to the prodigal son,” said two of my writer friends, “but you should explain what the second two are–or not mention them.”
I am amazed that they have never heard these two parables. They are such a part of my outlook on life–God as female seeking her lost one, and God as sower who casts seed that never sprouts, seed that sprouts and dies, and seed that sprouts and grows well. How can anyone live without these powerful metaphors?
I don’t want to delete most of my Bible quotes and references…. I love the Bible.
Furthermore, this book is a portrait of who I was, who I am, and how I got from one to the other. It’s a portrait of an evangelical, for Christ’s sake, so it’s going to be preachy.
Their critique points to a fundamental problem, however: who is my audience? Should I make it less preachy to reach secular readers? Or is it aimed mainly at Christian readers, who know these references to Jesus’s parables? But why preach to the already-converted?
I’ve got to figure this out…
Memoir and Mountains 
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