Tag: God

The Writing Life

Getting Back to It

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I’ve been out of the loop of writing this blog. I don’t actually have any particular excuse for stopping. It’s sort of like exercising. One day of not working out becomes two days and the next thing you know you haven’t been to the gym in four months. And though I didn’t gain any weight, my writing became slightly sluggish. So I avoided blogging.

But there was this constant buzzing in my head asking me when I planned to get back to the blog. It’s the same annoying voice that bugs me about cleaning out my closet and organizing my cabinets. Try as I might to ignore her, she is persistent.

Then God stepped in and administered the divine two by four to get my attention.

The owner of a local antique shop asked me to teach a blogging class at her store.

I panicked. How could I teach a blogging class when I no longer blogged?

“Wait,” I thought, “I blog once a month on the Minerva Rising Blog.”

Of course, God doesn’t work that way. When He wants you to do something, He means for you to listen.

I get to the class and my only student is the friend who got me to start blogging in the first place. It seemed odd that she would be taking a class on blogging since she had a wonderful blog. Well, it turns out she hadn’t blogged in several months and was looking for guidance on how to get back on track with her blog.

Funny, huh?

So there I was face to face with my own predicament. Suddenly, I was forced to figure out how to get back on track myself.

None of this was by chance. God has really been dealing with me lately about finishing what I start and the blog is only the tip of the iceberg. He has also been nudging me about the novel that’s shoved in a box in the corner of my office. He’s been saying it’s time to revise it and get it out into the world.

To be frank, I’m scared. What if I don’t have what it takes to revise it yet another time? What if it isn’t any good? But I’m reminded of what the senior pastor of Community Christian Church in Naperville, Dave Ferguson, once said: “Work like it depends on you, but pray like it depends on God.”

So, I’m diving back into blogging as the Confident Writer with a new twist. I will now be blogging about the process of revising a novel. My weekly post will be about my individual progress on the novel as well as the process of revision. Occasionally, I might throw in a post on what I’m reading or what motivates me.

I hope you will come along for the ride as I get back to living the writing life.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Vine of Negativity

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Last Thursday had an artist date. I got the idea from The Artist Way by Julia Cameron, where she suggest we go on an excursion once a week to nurture our inner artist, similar to dating your partner. You get to know yourself again and fill your creative tank by spending time alone doing things you enjoy.

My creative tank was feeling pretty low. So I wandered around my community looking for something inspiring to photograph. Unfortunately, the fall in Georgia isn’t very picturesque. The flowers are droopy from the hot weather and lack of rain. The trees are either green or turning a brownish-yellow. Nothing at all like the vibrant reds and oranges back in Illinois.

I ended up at the community Visual Arts Gallery. I walked around admiring the paintings. I stopped and pondered a few. One particular painting reminded me of Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh. I wanted to purchase it, but the $700 price tag dissuaded me. So I left the gallery empty-handed and uninspired.

I thought my artist date had bombed. I figured I’d try again next week. But as I headed out of the parking lot a tree caught my eye. I have been fascinated with the kudzu and english ivy growing on the trees since we moved here last summer. The way the vines encircle the tree, slowly feeding off it and eventually killing it reminds me of the movie The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

I wasn’t quite sure how this tree would inspire me, but I snapped several shots nonetheless.

The way the vines climb up the trunk creeps me out.

As I drove off, I wondered why I would want to have a photograph of something that gives me the heebie jeebies. But then it occurred to me those vines are a lot like negative thinking. It starts out small, slowly feeding on thoughts, until we are overpowered by doubt and fear. And much like the tree, we begin to depend on the negativity. It becomes a part of who we are. Deep, huh?

Well, the next day I went on a date-date with my husband. We were enjoying a lovely bottle of French Chardonnay on the patio when I noticed a tree that had been overcome by a vine. It struck me that if negative thinking is like this vine we had better take it seriously.

As writers, it is easy to doubt ourselves and our abilities. There are so many other good writers out there. The publishing industry is hard to break into. We face repeated rejection. But we can’t let that stop us. We have to remember our desire to write comes from the Lord.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

Our writing fits into a larger picture than what we can see or understand. We can’t let those vines of negativity prevent us from telling the stories only we can tell. There is someone who needs to read it. So what are you putting off that you need to do today?

Vow this week to cut away any thought that doesn’t serve you.

Until next time . . .

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Write with Confidence

confidentwriter

Write with Confidence

I’m a procrastinator at heart. I put things off even when it would be much easier to just do it. Nowhere is this more evident than in my writing life. When it’s time to sit at my desk and write, I check my e-mail, peruse Facebook, or suddenly feel the urge to wash dishes.

Proverbs 14:23 says, “ Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty.” Procrastinating is a form of mere talk. We tell ourselves we will do it later. And at the time it feels like an easy out. However, as time passes our mere talk leads to a feeling of inadequacy. This can be especially dangerous to writers. The more we put off writing the less qualified we feel. There are many people who have a great idea for a book, but never write down one word. There are others who start a story, but don’t ever finish it. Then there are those of us (myself included) who have completed pieces, but don’t take the next step. We put it off because it’s not quite right or we fear rejection (my personal favorite).

It’s all a form of procrastination and it leads to a poverty of spirit. We lose the power we need to achieve our goals. To move beyond this we have to step outside of our comfort zone. Action brings value to our lives and confidence in our abilities. It creates a sense of satisfaction, especially when we accomplish the work God has set before us. But often doing that work means we have to take a leap of faith, trusting God rather than relying on our own understanding.

Writing this blog is a leap of faith for me. I have attempted to start a blog two times before. I signed up with blog spot. I agonized about which theme to use. I even wrote a first blog for each. But in both instances I put off unveiling the blog to the public. I told myself it wasn’t ready yet. And while that may have been true, the real problem was fear. I was afraid of rejections. What would people think? What if it isn’t good enough? What if no one read it? But none of that matters because I know this is something that I am supposed to do. The longer I put it off the more I doubt myself.

We face certainty anytime we step out of our comfort zone, but we can’t allow fear to control us. We have to feel the fear and do it anyway, knowing that we are not alone. When we put our trust in the Lord, we can write with confidence.