The Joy of Reading by Sandi Somers

I'm a voracious reader and have always been. When I was young, I became so absorbed in my reading that Mom said, “The house could fall down, and you wouldn’t even know it.” 

I experienced what CS Lewis said, that through stories, we can step into other worlds, to “see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts.” He went on to write that “Literature enlarges our being by admitting us to experiences not our own. They may be beautiful, terrible, awe-inspiring, exhilarating, pathetic, comic, or merely piquant….In reading great Literature...I see with a thousand eyes…I transcend myself.”[i] 

This month’s reflective topic brings to the fore our exhilarating reading experiences, our choices, what we’ve absorbed, and how reading impacts our writing.   

The variety of genres I read in my early days developed and reflected some of my key interests:

·       Thornton Wilder books from my earliest reading days enhanced my love of nature                                  

·       Fairy and folk tales expanded my imagination, including the love of the three Billy goats trip, trapping across the bridge

·       Children’s Bible stories heightened my love and understanding of Scriptures

·       Elementary readers brought the world to me with their true stories, including the Yangtse River flood of 1931, and “Dale of the Mounties”, how a Mounties’ dog discovered Eileen Simpson, a young lost girl sleeping in a grain field (a story from my own area of Alberta)

·       Missionary biographies from our church library developed my love of both missions and biography

·       The history of scientific and medical inventors such as Einstein and Pasteur stretched my thinking into different disciplines

·       Fiction in high school, including Tale of Two Cities, Swiss Family Robinson, and Tolstoy’s stories, expanded my love of literature 

Today, I read books from our InScribe writers, picking them up at Fall Conference or ordering online. Friends loan me their favourites or suggest books and genres they’ve enjoyed. I place many on hold from our Calgary Public Library, or from the nearby Ambrose University library—so as to keep my expenses down. Then we have several “Little Free Libraries” in our neighbourhood, and I’ve enjoyed reading books I wouldn’t have chosen otherwise. I have too many favourite authors to enumerate. 

Currently I’m reading—or have just finished most of Terrie Todd’s books, including Even if We Cry; Karen Stiller's The Minister’s Wife; and Jacob: The Wrestler, by Liz Chua, (Liz belongs to my InScribe local writers’ group.) Can you believe I also just finished two Nancy Drew books from a “Little Free Library”? 

* * *

And now comes the question: How does reading impact my writing? Let me count some ways (riffed thanks to Elizabeth Barrett Browning). I read: 

For absorbing genres that I write. Memoirs, personal essays, devotions, and Biblical fiction. Annie Dillard said, “[The writer] is careful of what he reads, for that is what he will write. He is careful of what he learns, because that is what he will know.”[i]

For giving me specific writing strategies, through writing “how-to” books.

For ideas.  Many ideas crop up as I read my Bible and meditate on how the Lord has spoken to me through that day’s scripture.  

For style, phrasing and vivid description. As I read, I often place a check mark in the margins where I discover beautiful writing or a thoughtful quote. From there, I return with relish to copy in my “quotes” journal. Most recently these books have inspired me with their beautiful language: A Surgeon in the Village: An American Doctor Teaches Brain Surgery in Africa by Tony Bartelme, and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.

For research and background material. Sometimes the Lord brings to mind a book I own. Scanning through the Table of Contents, a topic leaps out. There, I find what I need and what our Lord wants me to process and write.

For instructing others. Last year I taught homeschooling kids from Grades 6 to 9 and used the wonderful book, Fiction Writer’s Workshop, by Josip Novakovich. Though aimed at fiction, it has excellent strategies for nonfiction, too.

For keeping in touch with other InScribe writers, in our InScribe Writers Online blog, our Professional Blog, and FellowScript.

How satisfying is a reading life! I conclude with Annie Dillard who summarized: “a life spent reading—that is a good life.”[iii]

Image: Word on Fire from Unsplash

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[i] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/lewis-on-why-we-enjoy-reading/

[ii] Annie Dillard, The Writing Life, https://bookriot.com/annie-dillard-quotes/)

[iii] Annie Dillard, The Writing Life, https://bookriot.com/annie-dillard-quotes/)

Tribute to an Unknown Man by Bruce Atchison

I wish I could say that some famous writer inspired me to write. Certainly Thornton Berges enchanted me as a boy with his Fables of the Green Forest. J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis fired my imagination with their fiction books. And I wanted to live in Zilpha Keatly Snider's Black and Blue Magic paperback. How wonderful, I thought, it would be to be able to fly like a bird with nothing but fresh air surrounding me.

The boring truth is that a certain work counselor started me writing professionally. I forgot his name but not what he encouraged me to do.

I had written CD and cassette reviews for music fan magazines as a hobby. When I showed my tear sheets to the counselor, he suggested I become a professional writer. That appealed to me as I could work from home.

My freelancing success was limited by my poor eyesight. Even so, I had a computer and a screen reader which read aloud my work. 

I also used the Reading Edge machine at the library to read scanned in magazines. It made studying publications for possible article sales easier for me.

Writing my three memoirs was therapeutic. Doing so helped me face the traumas of my physical and spiritual youth. Jesus also helped by taking the emotional pain away.

Now I blog for the Lord, providing readers with the excellent Bible teaching I've learned since coming out of a cult. The Epistle of Saint Jude is my inspiration and I hope I'm contending for the faith to Christ's satisfaction.

Unleashing the Lion ~ Valerie Ronald

Our neighbor’s new puppy grew quickly into a mature German Shepherd dog, purebred, high strung, yet often chained and ignored in their backyard. Elsa became frustrated and aggressive without proper obedience training and attention. One day as I was walking to my car, she bolted past the legs of her owner at the open door and ran right at me barking furiously, teeth bared, hackles raised. I threw my hands up and shouted at her, which made her stop in her tracks, giving the neighbor just enough time to grab her by the collar before she lunged at me. The encounter left me shaken. For days afterwards I carried a broom when I left the house, ready to defend myself from an unrestrained dog.

Unleashing an unpredictable force can lead to unexpected consequences.

At this point in my writing journey I see myself trying to control a lion of a story which, if unleashed, could grab me by the throat at any moment and shake me violently. Fear of unknown consequences often keeps me from giving the story freedom to be told. Yet at the same time, this story is the writing dream God makes quite clear He wants me to pursue.

What if the writing dream I’ve been given scares as much as it excites?

What if unleashing the dream releases painful remembrances of emotional trauma and pain?

What happens when my fingers are hesitant to unclasp the leash, yet the dream continues to strain against its restrictions, eager to be free?

I must be honest in admitting that I come to this dream reluctantly. It does not fill me with pleasure to chronicle the details of how I almost disappeared when I was married to a sociopath. I do not want to revisit the years of neglect, lies, betrayal and emotional abuse. Those painful times are in the past. God has since worked a healing in my heart and life, for which I am incredibly grateful. But the scars still twinge when I recall how they came to be there, and the memories stir up echoes of the deep pain of those heart wounds.

So what do I do with this dream that will not let me go? There must be a purpose in it.

God sometimes gives me glimpses of the lion set free and what it can accomplish for Him. Lions are dangerous animals but they have a place in the scheme of nature which no other animal can fulfill. Jesus was given the title the “Lion of the tribe of Judah”(Rev. 5:5), depicting Him with the majesty and strength of a lion, “mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing.” (Prov. 30:30)

Because this lion of a dream is given by God, then I must not retreat before the distracting strategies of the enemy, who would like nothing better than to see it die unfulfilled. In obedience I must go forward.

I am learning to look at this daunting task from God’s perspective. When I view writing about my difficult experiences as a way to help others suffering at the hands of a sociopath, it takes on a purpose far outweighing my own discomfort. It helps me to think of it as God’s story, told within the context of my own. Only His intimate care, love and protection saw me through those dark days. He is the hero whose presence is woven into every detail of my story. I believe its purpose is to offer hope to others trapped as I was, hope only He can give. Because Jesus saw me through the dark valley, He can do the same for them. So I pray for the fortitude to set aside my own past pain and unleash this lion of a story, then see what unexpected consequences God will bring about.

When God created me in Christ Jesus, He had good works prepared in advance for me to do. (Eph. 2:10 NIV) I have it in writing that such confidence is mine through Christ before God, not that I am competent in myself to claim anything for myself, but my competence comes from God. (my paraphrase of 2 Cor. 3:4-5) God gives assurance in His Word that when doubts arise I am to remember that His Spirit lives within me to help realize the dream He has given. My part is to respond in faith and obedience.

Is anything impossible for God? Can feelings of inadequacy or fear tether the Lion when His power is limitless and His purposes have teeth?

“Aslan is a lion --- the Lion, the great Lion.”

“Ooh”, said Susan. “I thought he was a man. Is he --- quite safe?’

“Safe? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you!”

~ C. S. Lewis – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Becoming a Creative Christian by Nina Faye Morey

If you’re going to be used by somebody,

let it be JESUS.

For me, faith and writing are inextricably entwined. I have become a creative Christian. My creativity has acted as a catalyst for expanding and enriching my spiritual life. Creating something with my words has led me to delve deeper into God’s Word, allowing the Creator of everything (Colossians 1:16) to guide me and teach me His truth (Psalm 25:5). When I’m actively engaged in the writing process, I undertake more in-depth Bible study than when I am passively absorbing the words of others through devotional readings, Christian literature, Christian television programs, church liturgies, and so on. When I’m writing, I find myself constantly turning to my study Bibles, Bible concordances (print and online), and favourite Christian websites to research what the Word of God has to say about my subject and to find supporting Scripture verses. Whether or not I ask for His guidance, God always leads me to the sources that will help me infuse spiritual truths into my writing.

My Christian faith is what fuels my writing. I feel called to use my creativity to develop a deeper spiritual connection between my readers and Jesus. I try to light the way for my readers to follow Him and to see His will for their lives. My passion for writing is inflamed by my faith in the Word. Both my faith and my writing burn brighter because of the ever growing bond that exists between my creative life and my spiritual life.

My writing helps me and, hopefully, my readers develop a greater appreciation and understanding of how our spiritual and secular worlds coexist and intersect. I explore biblical themes, such as forgiveness, faithfulness, and hope, and inject them into a variety of genres. I integrate spiritual faith into a number of secular subjects, including health, education, and environmentalism.

Being a Christian writer in today’s materialistic and multicultural world is never easy. Many current writers’ markets are not interested in publishing books or novels that directly address Christian faith or theological themes. This creates a special dilemma for Christian authors who are aiming to write popular, commercial fiction. They walk a tightrope—trying to appeal to a general audience without alienating their Christian readers. They’re ever wary of the danger of sounding too “preachy” for the worldly. C. S. Lewis warned writers against relying explicitly on religious language to get their Christian message across: “We needn’t all write patently moral or theological work. Indeed, work whose Christianity is latent may do quite as much good and may reach some whom the more obvious religious work would scare away.”¹

A Christian writer may come to fear that theirs is but one feeble voice crying out in a vast inhospitable wilderness (Isaiah 40:3). Our belief in ourselves—our talent and our faith—can easily become tattered and frayed in the current secular climate of this world. But if we are faithful to our God, who created this world with His words (Psalm 33:9) and who was the Word (John 1:1), He will bless both us and our writing.

As writers, we are constantly learning and growing. Let God be your editor. Allow Him to make you both a better Christian and a better writer. He will help you rewrite both your life and your stories. He will guide you out of your comfort zone, enabling you to risk exposing your true faith and feelings. This approach will not only help you learn things about yourself and others, but it will also help others learn things about you and about themselves. Only when you are being true—to God, to yourself, and to your readers—can Jesus use you.

Endnote:

¹Lewis, C. S. Letter to Cynthia Donnelly (August 14, 1954).

Photos: Pixabay