The three R's by Lorilee Guenter

Write, revise, release. Most of the time, I have little trouble with the first R: write. If the idea is present, I can pick up my pen and spill ink across the page as I meet characters. I play with connections and clarify thoughts for essay or meditations. Sometimes the writing is only worthy of my journal page. Other times the stories and essays are worth another look.

Revise, revise, revise, there are days this feels like a bad word. It is the punishment for rambling. Other days I embrace it. Revision becomes a chance to consider the lessons held on the page. I learn more about the characters as I look at the gaps in the story. I see the teaching God is doing as He brings seemingly disparate ideas together in an essay. Revision in a way becomes an opportunity to relearn as I refine.

The time I spend refining a piece of writing varies. My longer stories have been through many revisions. They have had a few readers but mainly reside on my computer. Only one novel length story has been handed off to trusted early readers. I know the comments and critique from these readers is valuable for improving my writing. They ask good questions. They point out awkward passages and gaps in the story. I return to revision and in spite of the most recent feedback, refrain from releasing it.

I scrutinise and revise my shorter pieces as well. Nothing is released without revision. I find that the short pieces cycle through the revision stage fewer times. It is easier to hold the whole in mind as I consider the chosen word over a possible substitute. I also find it easier to catch gaps and repetition when the piece can be read in a single sitting. Even so, these are usually examined many times.

The hardest of the three steps is release. I want to release well written, well edited writing. I strive to improve my skills and thereby improve the readability of each story and essay. Since there is always room for improvement, there is always a reason to scrutinise each piece one more time before I release it. I have learned to overcome this hurdle and release some of my small articles, poems and stories. I have yet to release a longer story into the wild. I am once again revising the novel that is closest to its release. I don't know how many times I have looked at it. Some of the chapters are at the point where I add a word I removed on the previous read through or vice versa. Still I subject the story to another read.

As I stumble with releasing my story, the product of my imagination, I am reminded that God didn't give me a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7). Holding on to writing that needs outside eyes for improvement is not an act of courage but of fear. Likewise hoarding stories that are ready to send to an editor and then following through to publishing them, is steeped in some amount of fear. There are many "what ifs" that can stand in the way of taking the next steps. However, at some point the next step is not further revision. Instead, it is trusting that God will take the words where He wants them to go. Sitting on my shelf unread, they are a weight. Released, they may encourage, entertain or challenge others.

I think it is time for me to move from revision to release on at least one project. There are more stories waiting for the refining process and still more to be written. Hopefully you'll join me by taking the next step with your writing, whatever that step might be. 

I'm looking forward to a fourth stage: respond. I know if I take a step of courage the next step will become closer and closer.

Lorilee Guenter has moved from only writing in her journal to sharing small pieces of writing with the world. Now she is preparing to move from "just one more revision" to receiving a professional edit of her story. It's the next step.

N is for No, Never Again ~ by Brenda J. Wood

Many years ago, author Kimberley Payne kindly interviewed me about gluttony and with her permission, I share part of it here. I’ve included my truth as a bulimic. 

I am an internationally known motivational speaker, a former TV and radio hostess, author of more than fifty books, but I am also a recovered bulimic. 

The dictionary says gluttony is an excess in eating, filling beyond sufficiency. And just plain old greedy. Almost every one of us falls into that sin at one time or another. We go to fancy buffets and think, “Look at those fat people They’re such gluttons.”  But then there’s a guy who weighs one hundred and ten pounds, his plate piled high and refilled eight times. He, too, is a glutton. Gluttony has nothing to do with how full we feel. We use food like other people use drugs or alcohol.  It prevents us from facing pain we can’t deal with. In my case it was childhood abuse.

God says we have self-control. In 2 Timothy 1:7 says, he did not give us a spirit of timidity but of power and love and a common well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.

We feel we’re not good enough and less than. And we act like it and then eat worse than we did before. Until we understand how much God loves us, we will struggle with all sin.

Thank God, bulimia no longer controls me. It’s good to look back once in a while. How about you? What is your never ever again?

ME: My body is blubber, my dieting weak. I’ll never be thin like that size 10 I seek.

Oh God how can you love me? I’m concerned about self. 

I’m disgusting the way I gobble food off the shelf.”

GOD: “No, you don’t understand child. My son died for you. 

He demonstrated a love that is beyond self and true.”

ME: “What’s that you say God? Jesus died for me? But you don’t understand 

I’m not up to much. I fail, and fall and falter and such. You surely don’t want me.

I’m worthless.  I sin. I’m human. I’m weak. I’m not even thin.”

GOD: “No, you don’t understand child. You’re not worthless to me.

I give you the reason to live and to be.”

ME: “Look up to you and know my own worth? You love me that much no matter my girth? 

Why God is it possible that you died for me but now I see. Now I see, now I see.”

I documented my recovery in Meeting Myself, snippets from a binging and bulging mind. The podcast is no longer available, but the full interview is available by contacting kimberleyjpayne@gmail.com

 

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.

Stalled in the Middle: Shy Away or Seize the Day? By Sandi Somers

Ask yourself what motivates you to write and what "jumper cables" get your creativity running on all cylinders.

Steph Beth Nickel

 

In this month's topic, we come to the “muddle in the middle,” to use Wendy Macdonald’s expression. The writers of this month’s topic raised many issues and suggested so many creative solutions that I decided to include wisdom from all our writers (including links to their posts).

 I recognized that our writing progresses through different seasons. The Preacher’s words came to mind: “For everything there is a season, and a time for everything…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). So here goes.

 In every season our first priority is…

 A time with God and prayer. Valerie Ronald encapsulated all our thoughts: “Prayer is an absolute necessity before and during all my writing projects. I go to Him for inspiration, direction and help to navigate the tough spots.” Her writing has taught her “to recognize when He speaks to the creative part of my spirit…He will answer because He has never failed to provide the next step.” Pray that God will release the treasures He wants us to give to the world.

 Next we need a season of mind shifts …

 A time for wisdom breaks. Even a few minutes away from our daily projects enhances creativity. Sharon Heagy suggests: “Stare out the window, do a few menial chores…Just to get your head in a different place. Often while we are not thinking directly of the problem, the answer…comes to our mind in a moment of the ‘aha’ variety.” 

 But sometimes we need to let a project rest longer. Tracy Krauss switches to a different writing project when she feels uninspired or lacks motivation. Over the years she’s discovered an important principle: “once I've had time and distance, I usually come back with fresh ideas which couldn't be forced if I'd tried to slog ahead.” 

 Joylene Bailey introduced us to a new word. She procrastiworks—she quilts as a second creative project. Doing so opens “new creative pathways in the brain so that when you go back to the page, creativity…is refreshed, and you can come to the problem in a new way…it excites and fulfills me to know that while my hands might be doing something else, my brain can still be working on my writing project.”

 A time for self-care. Giving ourselves compassion is so important when we succumb to illness, when tragedy hits, or when we experience emotional pain. Steph Beth Nickel writes that during these times “we may be too physically or emotionally exhausted to even think about sitting down to write.” We need to rest in God's comfort until restoration comes. 

 When we give ourselves compassion, we discover that sometime later God may ask us to write what we’ve learned from our pain. It’s a powerful gift we can give our readers—it connects to their own heartbreaks and assures them they’re not alone.

 A time for renewal:  Martina Keast emphasized that engaging in research, rest from writing, and rejuvenation, “will help bring my head and heart into a state of coherence…where the creative flow will freely stream.”

   

Then we come to a season where we face deeper issues…

 A time to test our motivation. Steph Beth said we need to ask why we find ourselves “sputtering and coughing and coming to a grinding halt”. She advised us to “pray, consider why we began the project in the first place, and seek wise counsel.” We need discernment.  Does our core idea have meaning? Bob Jones asked:  “Is this the book I want to love and live with for the next two or three years?” Valerie concurred: “Does it fill you with joy and purpose? Are you aware of His presence with you as you write? An affirmative answer to these questions is reason to push through until you are unstuck.”

 To help answer these questions, Carol Harrison knew that we need input with other writers and friends. “Sometimes we just need someone to bounce ideas off of, glean knowledge from, or even get their expert help with technological issues,” she wrote.

 Wendy Macdonald agreed. What helped her was “to write past the messy middle because I had a set of eyes who were reliable and offered constructive criticism balanced with encouragement…The messy middle isn’t as dark and lonely when you have a good-willed critique partner.” 

 A time to let go of excuses. Sudden “urgent” needs can trigger us to avoid writing. Lorilee Guenter admitted that excuses lay at the bottom of much of her unfinished work, disguised as “the need to finish research…The need to clean up a space to spread out a sewing project.” With wisdom, she concluded: “Each day I choose to let God remove the excuses…so that when tomorrow becomes today, I will once again let Him guide and teach me.” Wise advice! 

A Time to face fear. Fear can be our greatest challenge, and it can come in many guises: “I’m not a good writer. Is this idea any good? Is it relevant to people's lives? Will I be criticized after I’m published?” Have courage. Stare fear in the face, and write scared.

 These guises are also Satan’s lies intended to keep us from God’s purposes. Refute him and rest in God’s promises. “He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love and power and a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

 We come to a season where we keep moving forward...

 A time to trust the process. Alan Anderson is two years into his project of writing poems on grandparent grief.  “I am not frustrated, neither do I have any intention of laying it aside,” he wrote. “I am not going to rush the process. My current part of the process takes time as I review and revise the poems. I love this part. Through this process my hope is the poems will speak with one, ‘voice.’” 

 A time to push through – Bob Jones completed a painful marathon one step at a time. My runner friends have told me that nearing mile 18, they hit “the wall”. They're trained to take one step, then the next, until they get their second wind and complete the race. So it is with writing: one phrase or paragraph or page at a time.

 Bob shared his secret: “the decision to finish any project is made for you before you start. When you settle on never quitting…you’ll find the mojo to keep going when your momentum is gone. Pause. Embrace the pain. Start again. And again. Finish.” 

 A time to finish: The ultimate reason to write is to finish a project, Lorrie Orr said. “Making the goal close and personal helps me to keep going.” If another project begins to simmer in the background of her mind, she keeps the end goal of the present one firmly in front of her.

 Personally, the Lord has recently impressed on me to finish a major project. A deadline, a promise from God, and a prayer team bolster my commitment.

And finally, we’re in season when we focus on…

A time to honour God. You are standing on holy ground.  Right now. Know that He is working in and through you in whatever time and space you find yourself. Susan Barclay wrote: “I want nothing less than His best for me…God has good plans for me…When the time is right, He will show me the next step(s).” 

 Give your writing to God—your dreams, your creativity, His purposes for you. Be faithful and do the next thing in the power of the Spirit. Pray for joy and peace to renew your passion so you can finish your work. Looking unto Jesus, you can seize the day.

 *

PS After assigning this theme last year, I realized that five years ago we blogged about not finishing. Here are strategies you might find helpful.

 

Reflecting by Lorilee Guenter

Promises Kept 

 "For I have not given you a spirit of fear (timidity), but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-control." (self-discipline) 2 Timothy 1:7

In January I chose this verse as a focus verse for the year along with the words courage and boldness. At the time no one predicted what was to come during 2020. When I started to reflect on this verse, I thought about changing my habits to care for this gift of life God has given me. I thought about being willing to grasp hold of the opportunities God showed even in uncomfortable situations. I thought about using what I have to build up those around me, to engage with neighbours more, and to continue to look for God's hand in my life and our community. All these happened and so much more.

This year this verse came to mind in unexpected ways and at unexpected times. Even when I prepared to write this post, God reminded me through a podcast that His spirit of power and love and self-control are working through us to accomplish His work. Not only that but He wants to work with us boldly and powerfully.

I clung to Him during the spring shut down. The absence of physical gathering with community highlighted the value of these communities. But our God made us with creativity and we were able to find new ways to gather, new ways to reflect His love. For me it came at great cost to my mental health but not with fear or panic. God gave me peace in place of panic. Peace I could then share with others.

As we were forced to give up distractions, I was surprised by new things, new opportunities. I had the courage to say yes to telling Bible stories for our Sunday School via video using my art and a basic script. I have been encouraged to share my art in other ways I had never considered. My first response to these opportunities was to be hesitant. When I was asked the same question by three people about an art related possibility, I knew I need to trust God and step into this role with boldness.

I do not know what God will do with any of these things. Some of the things God has shown me this year have been huge, some small. Through it all, at various times and in various ways, I have been reminded that God is at work. He will use what I give Him in unexpected ways. Through His power and love even the small steps of courage through faith will reflect His glory.

As we step towards a second shut down, I continue to trust god will continue to work with me and through me. Where that leads I have no idea, but He does. His power will replace panic with peace, fear with faith.

Self-Talk by Joylene M. Bailey

As I thought about the theme for this month, two stories from my past came to mind.

1.  Back in my childhood I did a Royal Conservatory of Music piano exam every other year.  They were terrifying for me, but eventually I figured out a way to power through the fear.  I would tell myself, “It’s only 20 minutes out of my WHOLE LIFE.”  It made the experience less daunting somehow.

2.  Years ago at a little country school, I got into conversation with 5 year old Ryan.  He told me that one day when the bus had dropped him off at his home, there was nobody there.  It scared him and he wanted to cry.  “But I thought, there’s no use crying,” he said, “So I decided to sit on the step and wait.”  I marveled at his thought process.

When facing fear, I do a lot of self-talk.

You can do this.   

It’s a learning process and it’s okay to make mistakes.

God gifted you to write so WRITE! and let Him worry about what to do with it.

Eventually my self-talk becomes prayer talk.  I tell God what’s got me worked up, ask Him for help and direction and that I would know He is present.  Scripture often comes to mind that encourages me on.   

I was nervous sitting down to write my first blog post for Inscribe Writers Online.  After all, who am I?  Why would anybody be interested in anything I had to write?

Then I read some of the other blog posts for this month and was comforted to see I wasn’t the only one. You all encouraged me.  Thank you!  I will use some of your comments for my self-talk next time I need to push through my fears.

If you’re looking for some inspiration for your own self-talk, here are a few great quotes to get you started:

“The best way out is always through.”  Robert Frost

“Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it.”  Judy Blume

“Fear doesn’t go away.  The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.”  Steven Pressfield

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.”  Winston Churchill

“People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.”  Peter Drucker

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.”  Thomas Edison

“I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

Phil. 4:13 (HCSB)

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.”

2 Tim. 1:7 (AMP)

“As Christian writers we have no excuse for letting fear stifle the words we are called to write.”  Sheila Webster