Walk Your Way to Writing by Sandi Somers

It’s time for my morning walk. I dress for the weather, tuck my cell phone and house keys in my pockets, and head out. I normally walk around the neighbourhood, choosing different routes, often starting in an easterly direction.               

Each morning brings its glory. The clouds, particularly in pre-dawn, blaze orange and pink. Fresh petrichor after rain fills the air with fragrance. My ear is quick to pick up the varied chirps, songs, and whistles of different birds, even when I’m concentrating on something else. 

I note how seasons bring changes. Deciduous trees change their colours, from springtime bursting with light green buds, to autumn when fallen yellow, purple, and orange leaves crunch under my feet. In December, Christmas lights in different homes still glow until sunrise. In spring and summer I sometimes stop to admire the artistry of flowerbeds and yards. 

Research has shown there are many benefits to walking. It not only connects us with nature -- the sights, sounds, and sensations. Walking boosts energy and concentration and improves thinking and imagination. 

My walks are often prayer walks, praying for others, sometimes asking God to clarify a situation that’s perplexed me. I pray the Lord will reveal fresh ideas, solutions, or Scripture. And often He does! 

Those prayer walks include writing articles and devotionals. My cell phone becomes my handy recorder. Often a thought has really impressed me through my private time with the Lord minutes earlier. I capture an outline, a few ideas to be expanded later, or an engaging introduction. I ask the Lord to guide my thoughts. 

On my walks this summer, I discovered a quiet place to gather my thoughts. Several areas in my community are newly developed, and one includes a new park with picnic tables. I began to sit in the warm sunshine, feeling cozy surrounded by newly planted trees and bushes, where I composed articles and devotions, complete with revising and editing. Ideas that had been bubbling up now became clearer... 

And I received the Lord’s wisdom. I’m reminded of the promise: “From his mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6 NLT). 

It's October now, and the warm days of autumn have given way to chill winds here in Calgary. I’m once again sitting at that picnic table, writing my first ideas for this November IWO post. But today, though it is sunny, I can’t stay long. The wind whistles through my jacket. It’s too cold for my fingers to edit and revise, and I can’t complete my whole post. I head for home, still thinking through and praying to receive more of the Lord’s insights.

Image by Pixabay

W is for Write ~ by Brenda J. Wood

 A writer is one who writes. If we write, then we are writers. What is holding us back? Where is our short story, our contest entry, our book?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we are the problem. We are our own worst enemy.

A multitude of years ago, someone told me, “I see a book in there!” I knew what she meant but I didn’t want to write what was in my head. I was afraid to examine it myself and I sure wasn’t prepared to share it. I compromised by writing several cookbooks. Eventually, though, the first chapter of Meeting Myself, Snippets from a Binging and Bulging Mind, flew onto my paper.

By the time I became a widow, I had learned that pain on the page was better than pain in the heart. It was November, Nanowrite. I wrote the required 50,000 words in thirty days and published The Pregnant Pause of Grief.

My cookbooks were published out of fear. If only I had stepped into my truth earlier, who knows what I would be writing now?

(P.S. In case you are wondering: The Slightly Murderous Christian Detective and Cheering you up on the Weigh down!)

Friend, you are a writer. You know it, but if you haven’t taken it into yourself, start calling you what you really are.

Start saying these words both inside and outside.

I AM A WRITER!  I AM A WRITER!

And remember if you have only five minutes to write, you have no time to chew your pencil for four minutes (John Erskine).

Brenda J. Wood has authored more than fifty books. She is a seasoned motivational speaker, who declares the Word of God with wisdom, humour, and common sense.

W is for Witness ~ by Wendy L. Macdonald

  

God bears witness to all

with words

the Holy Spirit has breathed

through scribes He ordained

by the Blood of Christ 

to help the blind see

~

God’s writers bear witness 

with words

written for others to see

what Jesus has done

is wonderful 

in bringing us true peace.

“I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—

    I, and not some foreign god among you.

You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God.”

Isaiah 43:12 NIV

What Scripture verse motivates you to bear witness of God’s redeeming love through your writing? 

This is my final post as a blog administrator. I have been greatly blessed by all your posts. Reading them each weekday has motivated me to reach higher and wider with words. You are a gifted group of writers. Keep at it. Keep looking up. Your witness with words is wonderful.

I will be taking a break from contributing to this site. When my break is over, I hope to offer an occasional guest post.

    

Wendy L. Macdonald is an inspirational blogger and YouTuber who loves photographing nature on Vancouver Island. Her happy place is making junk journals to sell in her Etsy shop. Her byline is: “My faith is not shallow because I’ve been rescued from the deep.”    

   

Villains, Victims and Victories by Mary Folkerts

 

Every good story needs a villain—the bad guy who creates havoc or the problem that causes misery. Can you imagine a story where everything is always perfect? At first, it might be a great escape from reality, but after a while, one simply gets bored of perfection. There must be a struggle or tension to create a dynamic in the story.

If you have a villain, you will undoubtedly have victims, people in danger or struggling with an issue they can’t resolve. It’s the age-old story of good versus evil where we most often identify with and cheer for the victim to overcome and the villain to be taken down.

The reader needs the author to give hope that they can prevail against struggle and pain and that victory is possible!

Even when we are not writing fictitious stories, these still seem to be necessary components of writing that capture the reader's attention. Who wants to read that Susie woke up to a glorious morning, went through her day without a care or angry word, fell into a deep, restful sleep at night and did the same thing again come morning? It’s not a compelling story without a struggle because it's unrealistic. We want to read about the problem Susie encountered during her day, something she had difficulty coming to terms with. Then, we want to know how she handled it and, hopefully, the steps she took to resolve it. 

We know real life is full of villains and problems, and the reader needs the author to give hope that they can prevail against struggle and pain and that victory is possible! So, what struggle is the villain of your story, who are the victims, and how are they affected? And what are the ways to victory? Let’s tell compelling, vulnerable stories that lead others to hope for their own story.

Mary Folkerts is mom to four kids and wife to a farmer, living on the southern prairies of Alberta, where the skies are large and the sunsets stunning. She is a Proverbs 31 ministries COMPEL Writers Training member and is involved in church ministries and music. Mary’s personal blog aims to encourage and inspire women and advocate for those with Down Syndrome, as their youngest child introduced them to this extraordinary new world. For more inspiration, check out Joy in the small things https://maryfolkerts.com/  or connect on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/maryfolkerts/ 

 

V is for Valma: The Call to Name as Christian Writers ~ by Michelle Strutzenberger

 

She couldn’t pronounce the letter “v.” And, yet, stunningly, her name began with a “v.” Valma. A student in my beginner English class, she could read and write fairly well. But her lips couldn’t seem to form into the required shape for certain sounds of the English alphabet. The letter “v” especially bewildered her.

I remember exaggerating my own mouth movements, setting my upper teeth firmly on my lower lip to help her see what her mouth needed to do. She would glance at me and laugh at my contorted lower face, then half-try, and finally fail as her lips met in a very distinct “b” sound. Balma.

She couldn’t pronounce her own name properly.

But I could. So could several of her fellow students, themselves learners of the English language. We could name her.

In her book, Walking on Water, Madeleine L’Engle writes on the power of naming. Of course, in her case, she is not referring simply to the act of verbalizing one another’s names. I especially love how L’Engle writes about the power of stories to “help us become whole, to become Named.”

My student’s challenge with pronouncing her own name could be a kind of picture for any one of us who struggles with feeling less than whole. We may be so broken we can’t even name ourselves. We need someone else to speak over us.  

It’s interesting to me that labels and names stand so close in meaning, and yet they carry completely different connotations.

We slap labels on pickles and Amazon packages. Our minds pin invisible labels on our neighbours, church acquaintances, and in-laws. Left-wing. Right-wing. Charismatic. Selfish.

Many of us may need to peel off labels we or others have pasted on ourselves over the years. Inadequate. Failure. Stupid. Sloppy.

Labels suit pickle jars perfectly.

But they can harm humans terribly. Labels should come with a warning: Not for use on people.

However, the act of naming is a completely different story.

He has been named athlete of the year.
We named her after my sister.
They have been named in our will.
We just named our chickens.

Naming in our regular vernacular carries the idea of bestowing – bestowing recognition, honour, possessions, even personality.

L’Engle also adds this notion of naming as a way to become whole, to become more fully who we were meant to be.

“When we name each other, we are sharing in the joy and privilege of incarnation,” L’Engle writes.

My question is, how can we contribute to the wholeness of one another as Christian writers? How can we name each other?

Again, L’Engle offers a clue. We name one another – that is, we contribute to one another becoming more whole -- as we create and enjoy art that “leads us to living more deeply with Christ in God.”

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, may we all as Christian writers continue to fulfill this calling on our lives until He returns.

Reference: L'Engle, Madeleine. Walking on Water : Reflections on Faith & Art. Wheaton, Ill. :H. Shaw, 1980.

Michelle and her family enjoy hiking mountains and trails together. She is currently writing a series  called, What Growing Up in a Mennonite Family of 10 Taught Me About Survival. To receive the bi-weekly tips, visit this link and subscribe.