A year after Cec started writing professionally, he made a commitment to God and to himself to do whatever he could to help other writers. He taught at conferences, conducted mentoring clinics, provided scholarships, and worked personally with a few writers at a time. But book contracts came faster and faster, demanding more of his energy and time. Reluctantly, he stopped his mentoring clinics, although the calls to conduct clinics continued. His assistant, Twila Belk, pushed him to write a twice-weekly blog, which did well while he had it. Then, with more than 130 books published at the time, he realized his next step should be a book geared toward writing.
First, he wrote Unleash the Writer Within, which centers on the inward aspect of writing. Too many writers focus on learning the craft (certainly not wrong), but they don’t give serious attention to their need to understand themselves, their motives, and their abilities. Cec believes that the more fully we grasp who we are, the better we write.
A year later, Cec decided to write Writer to Writer, the kind of book he wished he had found during his early days—one devoted to the craft of writing, yet done with simple, easy, and quick-to-read steps. His goal was to offer, in less than 400 words, a principle with an illustration. He wanted the book to make it easier for other writers to hone their craft.
Due to the encouragement of several people, Cec also wrote what he considers his legacy book—Ghostwriting: The Murphey Method. In the book he answers many questions about ghostwriting (collaborating), lays out his process of working with another person to write their story, and gives many examples from books he’s written.
Today, Cec still works with a handful of protégés—all gifted writers—and he continues to offer a limited number of scholarships through the Cecil Murphey Scholarship Fund for various writers conferences. (Please note that Cec is not involved in the process of selecting scholarship recipients. Creating the guidelines and choosing the recipients is up to the directors of each conference.)
Below is Cec’s keynote address for the 2014 Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference. He talks about writing with authenticity.