As a writer discouragement seems to crop up at any given moment. The reasons are many: too little time, too little to say or feelings of inadequacy.
It was Friday the final day for writing in my week. I dropped my daughter off at pre-school. I went to the YMCA and had my daily Bible time as I peddled the bike. Not the best way to have a quiet time but it sure made exercising more enjoyable. Following the work out, I went to the grocery store. It was not my ordinary store but it was having triple coupon day. I may have saved money but certainly not time after all they did not have Ruby’s favorite dog food. The 40 pound and growing lab is thrilled to eat but only HER favorite food will do. She once went on a hunger strike for three days because we had bought the on-sale brand. Anyone need a bag of IAMS for large breed puppies? Anyway, following the second grocery store it was on to the library where I had to wait in line to renew books and check out a new movie for the kids. By the time I got home and unloaded the groceries I was ready for lunch and a nap. So I sat down in front of the television with my Scooby Snacks and the jar of peanut butter and turned on the Hallmark channel. Well, I just simply did not want to write today. After all, I only had an hour until it would be time to pick up Grace.
A Little House on the Prairie episode was on and I had never seen it. Lo and behold the Lord can use even reruns of an old favorite to speak to you. Laura Ingalls Wilder had just turned down a contract from a publisher who thought she had more writing talent in her little finger than others have in their entire bodies. What writer would not have been thrilled and jumped at the chance for a published novel? The story concluded with the editor telling her he wished he had her talent. She in turn told him that he hid behind excuses and his job and that he should start writing.
You see writing requires a willingness to bear your soul and to risk ridicule, failure and judgment from others. I had an epiphany. That was my problem. It was not that I only had an hour or that I did not have anything to say. My writer’s block comes from the fear that people will not like what I write or that I will not write correctly. My feelings of inadequacy had gotten the better of me again. Needless to say I jumped up out of my seat and grabbed the computer and got to typing.
The Lord knows your days and he wants to encourage you. “For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11) You see no matter what obstacles stand in your way when you are a Christian and a writer, you write and then you re-write and you keep writing until the Lord says stop. Whatever he is calling you to do always remember “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” (I John 4:4)
Emily Carter is a wife to Hayden and mother to Coleman and Grace. She is a freelance writer and speaker. She loves talking to women about Jesus, God’s Word and the power of prayer. To read more from Emily go to abundantlyhis.blogspot.com.
It was Friday the final day for writing in my week. I dropped my daughter off at pre-school. I went to the YMCA and had my daily Bible time as I peddled the bike. Not the best way to have a quiet time but it sure made exercising more enjoyable. Following the work out, I went to the grocery store. It was not my ordinary store but it was having triple coupon day. I may have saved money but certainly not time after all they did not have Ruby’s favorite dog food. The 40 pound and growing lab is thrilled to eat but only HER favorite food will do. She once went on a hunger strike for three days because we had bought the on-sale brand. Anyone need a bag of IAMS for large breed puppies? Anyway, following the second grocery store it was on to the library where I had to wait in line to renew books and check out a new movie for the kids. By the time I got home and unloaded the groceries I was ready for lunch and a nap. So I sat down in front of the television with my Scooby Snacks and the jar of peanut butter and turned on the Hallmark channel. Well, I just simply did not want to write today. After all, I only had an hour until it would be time to pick up Grace.
A Little House on the Prairie episode was on and I had never seen it. Lo and behold the Lord can use even reruns of an old favorite to speak to you. Laura Ingalls Wilder had just turned down a contract from a publisher who thought she had more writing talent in her little finger than others have in their entire bodies. What writer would not have been thrilled and jumped at the chance for a published novel? The story concluded with the editor telling her he wished he had her talent. She in turn told him that he hid behind excuses and his job and that he should start writing.
You see writing requires a willingness to bear your soul and to risk ridicule, failure and judgment from others. I had an epiphany. That was my problem. It was not that I only had an hour or that I did not have anything to say. My writer’s block comes from the fear that people will not like what I write or that I will not write correctly. My feelings of inadequacy had gotten the better of me again. Needless to say I jumped up out of my seat and grabbed the computer and got to typing.
The Lord knows your days and he wants to encourage you. “For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11) You see no matter what obstacles stand in your way when you are a Christian and a writer, you write and then you re-write and you keep writing until the Lord says stop. Whatever he is calling you to do always remember “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” (I John 4:4)
Emily Carter is a wife to Hayden and mother to Coleman and Grace. She is a freelance writer and speaker. She loves talking to women about Jesus, God’s Word and the power of prayer. To read more from Emily go to abundantlyhis.blogspot.com.
1 comments:
Thanks Emily for the encourgement regarding "writer's block." Today is one of those days for me and driving me crazy. Good words of encouragement. God bless! jan
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