Writing to Change Lives covers the following topics:

      Introduction:

      Part One: Changing Lives with Intelligence
      1. Knowing Your Goal
      2. Knowing Your Audience
      3. Knowing the Techniques of Good Organization
      4. Knowing the Techniques of Good Writing and Speaking
      5. Knowing the Techniques of Effective Persuasion
      6. Knowing the Traps of Ineffective Persuasion

      Part Two: Changing Lives with Intensity
      7. Using Psychological Appeals
      8. Using Humor as a Life-Changing Tool
      9. Using Stories, Illustrations, Testimonies

      Part Three: Changing Lives with Integrity
      10. Demonstrating Moral Integrity and Pure Motives
      11. Demonstrating Pure Motivation vs. Manipulation

      Part Four: Changing Lives Through . . .
      12. Changing Lives Through . . . Speaking
      13. Changing Lives Through . . . Writing
      14. Changing Lives Through . . . Deliberating

      Afterword

Book is scheduled for release in spring 2007. If you're a print or online publication editor, you can download a review copy. Email Communicate to Change Lives to receive it.

The seminar

The one-day seminar covers the content of the book with the following schedule:

Communicate with Intelligence
      9:00-10:00: Knowing your goal, your audience
      10:15-11:15: Knowing techniques of good organization
      11:30-12:30: Knowing techniques of effective (and ineffective) persuasion

Communicate with Intensity
      1:30-2:30: Using psychological appeals
      2:45-3:45: Using humor, stories, testimonies

Communicate with Integrity
      4:00-5:00 Having moral integrity, pure motives

Here's how you can become involved (and make money for your organization).
• Sponsor a seminar through your church, college, or organization
• After covering travel cost and honorarium, you receive half the proceeds. (I'm suggesting you charge participants $99 for the six-hour seminar, $89 for groups. You can start making a profit with as few as ten participants.)

Email Communicate to Change Lives to sponsor the seminar and share in the income.

Click here for a list of venues where I'm speaking.

The reviews

“If you want to change lives, this book will show you how to do just that. I have read Jim’s books and articles. Whereas he is a very entertaining speaker and writer who can leave an audience howling with laughter, he never fails to make a serious point about ethics, personal discipline, religious conduct, or service to Christ whenever and wherever Jim communicates. Thus, this book is a text that comes from Jim's heart.”
      Dr. Dennis E. Hensley
      Professor of English
      Director of the Professional Writing Major at Taylor University Fort Wayne

“I laughed, I gulped, and I learned as I read Jim’s book. As a writer and teacher of writing, Jim knows what he is talking about. Best of all, he knows how to put the teaching at a level that we can easily grasp and apply. Want to write? Want to enjoy learning how to write? Here’s the book that will help you.”
      Roger Palms
      Writer, teacher, speaker
      Former editor of Decision Magazine

“Communicate to Change Lives is an essential tool for crossover communicators who want to reach beyond the pews with their Christian message. The author's advice is logical, original and is delivered with typical Watkins wit: funny, wise, and authentic. It's a rare book that entertains even as it teaches. This one does both.”
      Holly Miller
      Senior Editor, The Saturday Evening Post

“This book is a must-have for every writer and speaker.”
      Reg A. Forder
      Director of American Christian Writers, ACW Press

Intensely practical . . . hilarious . . . one of the best.
      Dr. Keith Drury
      Indiana Wesleyan University

Informed, approachable and humorous. . . .
      Gayle Roper
      Former director of Sandy Cove Writers Conference

A high level of content [with] contemporary method.       Richard Wynn
      Former president of Youth for Christ

The author

I've traveled all over North America and in several countries overseas teaching writing. My undergraduate degree is in theology from Indiana Wesleyan University. My graduate work is in communications from Ball State and Purdue University.

I've sold over two thousand articles, devotionals, editorials, hard-news stories, poems, reviews, scripts, short stories and song lyrics, as well as over one hundred color and black/white photos. His work has appeared in Campus Life, The Christian Communicator, The Christian Reader, Christianity Today, Decision, The Door, Focus on the Family, Leadership, Moody, Rev., Today's Christian Woman and War Cry as well as more than fifty independent and denominational religious publications, plus secular periodicals such as TIME. He also has a weekly humor column in three (so far) newspapers as well as a regular column in Rev. magazine.

My twelve published books include . . .
      • Characters (comedy/dramas from Lillenas, 1993)
      • Death & Beyond (Tyndale House, 1993) which received an award of merit in
        Campus Life's "Book of the Year" contest
      • Devotional Pursuits: Trivia and Truth (Beacon Hill, 1986)
      • Keeping Pace (Wesley Press, 1986)
      • The Persuasive Person (Wesley Press, 1987)
      • Sex is Not a Four-letter Word (Tyndale House Publishers, 1991)
      • Should a Christian Wear Purple Sweat Socks? (Wesley Press, 1987)
      • The Teen Sex Survival Manual (Bridge, 1987).
      • The Why Files (Concordia, 2000); a three-book series based on over 2,500
        young people's questions about sex, death, and the supernatural. "Christian
        Retailers Choice" award for best series
      • Communicate to Change Lives (Wesleyan Publishing House, 2007)

I've also contributed to thirteen books including . . .
      • 30 Days to a More Incredible Marriage (Tyndale House, 1998)
      • 100 Plus Motivational Moments for Writers and Speakers (Joy Publishing, 1991)
      • A Complete Guide to Writing for Publication (ACW Press, 1999)
      • Connections (Moody Press, 1992)
      • Family Traditions that Last a Lifetime (Tyndale House, 1993)
      • FeatureWriting.net (EpisteLogic, 2005)
      • Heartbeat (Tyndale House, 1988)
      • Mother's & Father's Day Program Builder No. 10 (Lillenas, 2005)
      • The Pastors' Study Bible (Group/Zondervan, 2000)
      • Perfect Love (Wesley Press, 1987)
      • Stories for a Grad's Heart (Multnomah Publishers, 2001)
      • What Does She Want From Me Anyway? (Harper/Collins/Zondervan, 1997)
      • Writers on Writing: Top Christian Authors Share Their Secrets for Getting Published (Wesleyan Publishing House, 2005)