Fight the Distractions ~ by Sheri Hathaway

 

Camping was a big distraction from writing this summer!

I don’t think any summer has held the volume and intensity of distractions that this summer has brought. My daughter and family moved to the city, requiring help with shopping or babysitting while they shop. In appreciation, they invited me along to a seasonal event, one that we often attended when all the kids lived at home. Those memories must be relived. Then the whole family decided to go camping. Then my friends decided to do something fun, so naturally I had to go along. 

In the meantime, I have flowers to attend to, raspberries to pick, and any of the other numerous plant and outdoor chores that grow with the season. 

Our prairie summers only last a given number of days so why not take advantage of it? I can write in the winter, right?

None of these activities could be denied. All are important in their own right. Decisions must be made to manage the hours God gave us in each day. May I offer a few suggestions for managing your time? 

1. Take charge; gain power over distractions: Previous experience has taught me it’s practically impossible to write – the kind of writing I do in long stretches of quiet time safely hidden away in my office – through a summer. Last spring, I looked ahead at the calendar and decided not to write during July and August. Taking charge over distractions by planning for them gives me a sense of power over the unexpected. Don’t let them take charge of you. You’ll only feel frustrated. Planning for them will give you a sense of power over them. Believe it or not, some things are more important than writing. Ecclesiastes 3 teaches there is a time for everything, and summer – my kind of summer – isn’t a time for writing… unless it’s a different kind of writing. 

2. Alter writing habits: Usually I write at my computer but in summer, I return to my old practice of slipping a notebook into my purse or market bag, with pen attached. I pull it out and write in a quiet – well, not quiet, then times when I’m doing nothing, like riding in the car, waiting for something or someone… Those times pop up if I watch for them. I know it’s not real writing, but it’s keeping my head in writing by planning for a bigger project later. 

3. Change the way you think about distractions: That invitation to the Taste of Saskatoon led to an unexpected art sale bordering the Taste grounds. I talked to a vendor, made some notes, and tucked that idea away for a future article. Wherever you go, stay alert to possible writing, no matter your genre. Think of distractions, not as a hindrance, but as a source of possibilities.  

4. Alter my expectations: I don’t plan to write a long piece or anything profound in summer. The final draft will come later, maybe this fall, maybe this winter. During short periods of writing in summer, I’m simply taking notes to develop later: future ideas for articles, changes to make on that blossoming book,  a catchy phrase for a poem… But… 

5. Warning! Retain some semblance of order: There is nothing more frustrating that having time to really write, remember a great phrase or idea I wrote down on the beach last July, and can’t find the book I wrote it in. Just as you developed the self-control to write regularly, use that self-control to maintain a useful organization practice of your notes. Keep the same notebook for an entire summer, moving it from one bag or purse to the other as you go, clearly write a meaningful title on the cover, for example, “Writing notes, June – September 2022”, and when normalcy returns, put it on the same shelf as your other writing notebooks so you can find it when you want it. 

We all have distractions so take charge of them and use them. They may still annoy you, but not as much as when they threatened to ruin your day. 

Sheri Hathaway is a freelance writer and watercolour artist living in Saskatoon. She writes historical pieces focusing on farm and family. Her writing has been published in the Western Producer, Neighbourhood Express, Freelance magazine and others. Her online home is sherihathaway.com and on Facebook at Author Sheri

Sit Still While I Tell You Something: Guest Post by Sheri Hathaway

 

A new year has begun. We see many comments about resolutions, plans made, and other action words focused forward on the future. Goals are good, but I’m here to say don’t overlook the present moment. It’s beautiful outside, the weather is quiet, and God has given us this day to enjoy. No, that’s wrong — he’s given us this moment. 

My pastor is teaching a class on prayer, the current lesson being the practice of “breath prayer”. For example, on your in-breath, think “The Lord is my shepherd” and on your out-breath, think “I shall not want”. Five minutes might be the duration, but length of time is variable. The purpose is to refresh and maintain your awareness of God’s close presence to you. 

I have gained much by sitting still in prayer. It’s been while in prayer that solutions to life’s problems came to mind or new writing topics entered my head. I may or may not have asked God for help with those issues. I simply pray the usual points on my prayer list and while praying, I concentrate in two directions, aware of ideas that run in the back of my mind while praying my requests upfront. It takes practice, but I think of it as keeping my mind open to thoughts while in conversation with someone, as a parent listens for a child to call while talking to another adult. 

It may seem like these thoughts arise from nowhere, but I believe God gives them while he has my attention. I don’t mean to diminish the gravity of the petitions I make in prayer, rather to describe blessings received while in service to God. Prayer is a multifaceted practice, full of graces in many aspects. I haven’t practiced breath prayer. My time with God is early mornings, but I think I’ll start in quiet moments anytime as a way of refocussing on God near me while listening for messages he wants to give me.

Join Sheri Hathaway on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter (@sherismusing) as she divides her time between writing and watercolour painting, enjoying life on both the Canadian prairies and the West Coast. 

In Everything Teach & Ignite - guest post by Sheri Hathaway

 

  

For everything there is a season,

A time for every activity under heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die,

A time to plant and a time to harvest.

A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and a time to build up. 

A time to cry and a time to laugh.

A time to grieve and a time to dance.

A time to scatter stones and a times to gather stones. 

A time to embrace and a time to run away.

A time to search and a time to quit searching.

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear and a time to mend. 

A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

A time to love and a time to hate.

A time for war and a time for peace. 

Ecclesiastes 3: 1 – 8, NLT version

This poem appears in the middle of a great piece of observance and reflection on life written by someone who calls himself the Preacher. We think it’s probably King Solomon because of his references to his life as a king. Nearing the end of his life, the Preacher is taking stock, looking back and reflecting on how it all played out. He records his thoughts as he moves through his memories, most of which bring him despair. He certainly had his reasons, having built a wealthy and powerful kingdom and then see it decline. In the end of his thoughts, he arrives at a conclusion of monumental importance to him and to us: the purpose of our lives is simply to enjoy it! Yes, enjoy what God has given us and praise him. 

The Preacher felt compelled to record his thoughts as they unfolded in his mind. Perhaps writing them down gave him a way to process them, but for us, his words hold lessons and inspiration, leading us to look at our own lives and pinpoint the priorities. 

Isn’t that also the purpose of a Christian writer today? Friends, the year is almost over. The past twelve months or more have had times for ‘every activity under heaven’. I challenge you, pick up your pen or open your Word document, and reflect on this year. Write your God-inspired thoughts with the intention to both teach and ignite praises to God. 

Join with Sheri Hathaway on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter (@sherismusing) as she divides her time between writing and watercolour painting, enjoying life on both the Canadian prairies and the West Coast. 

Regifting - guest post by Sheri Hathaway

  

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

I love the way 2 Corinthians 9: 15 is worded in the NIV version. Indescribable means something is too wonderful for words. (So remember that the next time you can’t think of the words; praise God and say, “It must be indescribable!”) But seriously, have you ever wondered what this world would be like if Jesus hadn’t come?  Now that, friend, is indeed indescribable. Not wonderful – it’s too awful for words. 

So here we are, approaching Christmas when we thank God for his indescribable gift, his son, Jesus Christ. 

It’s times like this that I wonder other thoughts. Thoughts like, what gift can I give back to God? My heart, of course. OK, but what else? Well, my writing seems like an obvious answer. And in giving my writing back to him (Speaking of re-gifting – oh, were we? No, but we are now) I am also giving something to the world. 

I’m always amazed to realize that a total stranger read something I wrote. It’s as if I forget that once I send my writing out in an email, I don’t realize that it actually goes somewhere, is read by an editor, and is printed where complete strangers can read it – other actual inhabitants of this earth. On occasion, those readers email me. They tell me that they read my piece (most like it, in case you wondered). At that moment, I’m deep in thought over the next piece and am jolted back into the past to when I wrote and submitted the thing they’re talking about. That’s when the reality of being a writer hits me. That’s when I am reminded of the responsibility I have to others. Of course, God gave me this desire and ability to write so I have a responsibility to Him, too. 

So thinking of all this at Christmastime, I have a private conversation with God. Of course, the first thing I do is thank him for his gift to me, the indescribable gift of his Son. Then I thank him for this gift of writing. I also thank him for keeping me alive long enough to write full-time after retirement because before that, it didn’t happen often, no matter how much I wanted to do it. Then I ask Him for another gift – I ask him to keep giving me the words He wants me to write because I am only the instrument, his pen to write his words. After all, I don’t want everything to be indescribable. I want to be able to keep giving to the world, and him, what He gave to me. 

Regifting and regifting and regifting, over and over again. 

Sheri Hathaway is a freelance writer and watercolour artist living in Saskatoon. She writes historical pieces focusing on farm and family. Her writing has been published in the Western Producer, Neighbourhood Express, Freelance magazine and others. Her online home is sherihathaway.com and on Facebook at Author Sheri Hathaway. 

Trip of a Lifetime - guest post by Sheri Hathaway

Madeleine L’Engle wrote: 

When the words mean even more than the writer knew they meant,

then the writer has been listening.

And sometimes when we listen, we are led into places we do not expect,

into adventures we do not always understand.

Madeleine L’Engle had a deep faith, a member of an Episcopalian church in the United States. Although she doesn’t give God’s name specifically, I think in this quote she’s thinking of the rewards of listening to God’s voice as she writes. She has certainly gone to places she didn’t expect when she wrote the book she is best remembered for, A Wrinkle in Time, where her characters journey into outer space. Her imagined planets and strange beings that populate them are the product of her imagination, gifted of course, from God. 

I think she was using the gifts God gave her, to craft a story, but left them in God’s hands to use as He desired after publication. Her characters who quoted scripture remind the reader of Christianity without being preachy, and that’s what we are told to do as writers today. But her work of science fiction where she mixed science and Christianity was unorthodox for her day and not always appreciated. Today that theme is more widely accepted and her book is still celebrated. 

Mother Teresa wrote, 

“I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.” 

I think when little Teresa was growing up in Macedonia she never imagined she’d spend her adult life in Calcutta, India but what an achievement she accomplished by listening and allowing God to use her life. God began by planting a seed and when she listened, He used her for much good, telling people of God’s love. 

As for me, well, I don’t see a work of science fiction or a trip to Calcutta in my future, but who knows what God will do with my writing, such as it is. I have a prayer group that I send out an email to every week. I update them on my current work and a shortlist of prayer requests. I haven’t felt led to produce explicitly Christian writing but I want God in everything I do. So, I ask for prayer that He will lead my writing. I want to do my best for Him. I have a keen interest in history – the victories and failures of past lives. A few people have sent me a message about my published writing, thanking me and telling me what my article has meant to them, but perhaps there are more that have enjoyed my writing and even been changed in some way, and not told me. I know I have read lots of good stories by wonderful writers and not contacted the author to tell them how much I enjoyed it. Like releasing children into the world when they’re grown, a writer sends their words out to find their own way, guided by God. Writing history is the interest God has given me, and I leave the future of the words in His hands. I hope my writing has gone places and done good in someone’s life that I do not know of, perhaps not around the world or into outer space, but perhaps into someone’s heart. Now there’s the trip of a lifetime! 

“He is at work on your behalf, not to make you a best-seller, but to make you the best tool for His work. As much as we’d like to think this whole gig is about selling books, it’s not. It’s about obedience. About writing, because that’s the task He’s given us. It’s about seeking to serve Him and others through the gifts He’s given us.” ~Karen Ball.

Sheri Hathaway is a freelance writer and watercolour artist living in Saskatoon. She writes historical pieces focusing on farm and family. Her writing has been published in the Western Producer, Neighbourhood Express, Freelance magazine and others. Her online home is sherihathaway.com and on Facebook at Author Sheri Hathaway.