A Big Picture View of My Writing by Sandi Somers

 

 On a mission trip to northern Haiti in 2006, some of our group hiked up to the mountain fortress of La Citadelle Henri Christophe. What a 360 º view of Northern Haiti! I was especially surprised by the small area near the Caribbean coast in which we had travelled. It had seemed like a distance as we drove on rutted roads from one point to another past villages, into Cap-Haitien, and to the pastor’s house where we helped with construction. Yet in my view from the fortress, those distances were only a few kilometres. (Unfortunately, with the haze, my photo didn’t turn out).

Just as the Citadelle offered an amazing overview of my earlier contact points, so at this time of year we reflect on the big picture of our writing—where we have come from, where we are now, and what our plans are for the rest of the year.

My big picture planning began in late December. I realized that I was working on several different projects. Besides writing monthly for our InScribe Writers Online blog and quarterly for FellowScript, I was writing weekly devotions for my cousin and great-niece and finishing a book-in-progress. I was also adding chapters to several future books.

But how could I organize and co-ordinate writing for all these interrelated projects? Initially, I listed the next steps of each possible work-in-progress—a publishing plan. This gave me the clarity I so needed.

How has my work progressed? And how is God leading and guiding me?

In late June, I finished studying through the Bible and began again in Genesis. This time, I resolved to write faith-based devotions based on the chapters I’m reading. My day usually begins early, spending valuable time with the Lord in in-depth Bible studies. As He illuminates insights and understanding, He gives me story ideas and a devotional slant to help my readers recognize the great treasure they have in the Lord and in their Christian faith.

The Lord has impressed on me the need for concerted prayer and planning each morning as to which article to draft and/or polish. (Sometimes I forget to pray—and my writing doesn’t go so well.)

Normally late spring through summer is my least productive writing season, as it’s filled with outdoor activities, gardening, travel, get-togethers, etc. This year, however, with clarity, I’ve been able to continue with more writing than usual. It helps when on sunny days on my walks, I take my cell phone, sit at a picnic table and draft an idea, to be polished later.

What does my writing life look like in the months ahead?

As late summer turns into autumn and then winter, I hope to give more time to write:

Hopefully (and prayerfully) completing my first book: Divine Encounters: 21 Stories of God’s Miraculous Ways. It is ready to be formatted.

Continued writing on future books, primarily the next one.

Experimenting with Flash Nonfiction articles. In her July blog post, Sharon Heagy described different types of flash fiction, with some as short as six words. Her ideas prompted me to experiment with flash nonfiction of 100 words or fewer, capturing one moment without background and context, and completing it with a universal and perhaps surprising principle.

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In Genesis 13, God told Abraham to walk through the whole land to get a big-picture view of what God was promising him, and to claim it as his own. God is giving me the privilege of walking through those future books to clearly define them, visualizing them as completed works.

He’s also calling me to work diligently. “Therefore…be steadfast…always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58 CSB).

Sandi Somers writes from Calgary, Alberta, the delightful city between the Rocky Mountains and the Prairies, where she enjoys God’s beauty when walking and driving in nature, reading, gardening in season, and connecting with extended family and friends.