Writing that Makes My Heart Sing by Lorrie Orr

 

Slice of life: a story about a small segment of one's day, a poem that tells about a small moment in time, a collection of words and photos that describes a scenario

Slice of life perfectly describes the writing that makes my heart sing. I've loved writing my blog Fabric Paper Thread since 2007. Along the way since then I've written and published articles, begun a book or two, created hundreds of lesson plans, and struggled with writing essays in English and French for my B.A. I've learned so much and have truly enjoyed writing of all sorts. 

But...writing the little stories of my life is what charms me most. These might be short interactions with strangers, mental notes taken while out and about, or sweet anecdotes about my grandchildren. My current large writing project is the story of our family's years in Ecuador (21 of them!) and of God's faithfulness to us. 

I love writing about nature, and combining words with images captured on my camera. I write in a most unscientific way about my observations on the wonders of creation - what goes on in my garden, or in the geographies I visit. 

I love to write the kinds of things I love to read - mysteries (they are hard to write), poetry, vignettes about food and home-keeping, stories of the past and the present. 

As I string words together, I am always cognizant of the presence of Christ guiding my writing, and yet much of my writing is not overtly Christian. C. S. Lewis writes "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. The first business of a good story is to be a good story." Blog readers occasionally write me private emails to ask for prayer, or to comment on my faith and how they hope for more faith in their own lives. 

In my collected quotations, this one, by L. M. Montgomery in Anne's House of Dreams, where Anne is conversing with Gilbert, perhaps describes my favourite writing projects best,

"I'd like to add some beauty to life, said Anne dreamily.

I don't exactly want to make people know more...

I'd love to have them have a more pleasanter time

because of me...to have some little joy

or happy thought that would never have existed

if I hadn't been born."

Lorrie Orr writes from Vancouver Island where she enjoys boating and hiking with her husband. Gardening, reading, sewing, and spending time with her five grandchildren fill her days when she isn't teaching Spanish at a local high school. She also writes a "slice of life" blog at www.fabricpaperthread.blogspot.com

My Heart Sings When. . . by Carol Harrison

My Heart Sings When. . .

I write a variety of pieces from novels to memoir, short true stories to poetry, devotionals to family stories. What thread ties these together and makes my heart sing as I work on them? As I considered this, several things came to mind. I reread my mission statement which says, “I am passionate about mentoring and encouraging people of all ages and abilities to find their voice and reach their fullest potential.”

Living out that statement starts with my family and involves my writing projects as well. I tried writing fiction because one of my grandsons, then aged sixteen, challenged me to try. He wouldn’t let me give up and gave me suggestions. My adult niece agreed with him and went one step further by asking for a story about a girl named Karla (her name), another girl named Amee, and a dog named Abby (her dog’s name). How could I say no?

Writing that first short Abby story and giving it to her made my heart sing. I had fulfilled a request of a much-loved family member and took up my grandson’s challenge. To see their excitement gave me joy and more writing to work on wh
en she requested a second story the next Christmas. She’s received five so far.

The fiction writing grew when I allowed myself permission to work on the challenge further. But a book needed a cover. One of my granddaughters, Arianna, pursued her fine art education and painted the cover of A Home for Susannah based on a

synopsis of the book. She has now done the covers of the second and third books in the series. Then her sister, Kelsi, digitizes them using her graphic design course. Kelsi creates the covers for the devotional books, often using her own photography. She has an
eye to capture a moment, a scene from a different perspective, and a passion for capturing an image. What a blessing to work with these two granddaughters and encourage them to use their God-given talents and gifts. To encourage them and watch them grow in their field makes my heart sing for more reasons than simply the writing project but also helps me engage with enthusiasm as I write.

Technologically illiterate or mostly so, I have another granddaughter, Kathryn, who formats the books for putting on KDP. She finds it so simple and thinks I could learn it. Yet it boggles my mind and makes me nervous. Formatting does not make me feel good at all but I enjoy working with her to take the beautiful cover design and edited words to a place where readers can find them.

Sometimes I write family stories to get printed and bound at Staples to give my children and grandchildren as gifts. It helps me remember experiences I’ve had, lessons learned, and family times from the good to the not as great. Every piece helped shape me and the tough stuff made me turn to God more than the good times. To be able to pass on these stories to the next generation also makes my heart sing.

Finding little gems in everyday moments and life events and then sharing those with others through writing devotionals or as illustrations when I speak encourages me. When others have ‘ah ha’ moments reading them, or something touches them deeply and they begin to get a glimmer of hope of a glimpse of joy, then I thank God for giving me the words to use. I just need to obey and share those words with others.

My heart sings when something I write encourages a reader. But I don’t always know the effect of my words on others so I must trust God to take the words He has given me and touch the lives of those who read them.

My heart sings when I work with the grandchildren to bring the books to completion. There have been lots of opportunities to interact with them, encourage them, be challenged by them, and work together to use our gifts and abilities to the glory of God. 

 

Carol Harrison loves to hang out with family and friends. She feels blessed to have so many people encourage her in her writing and speaking. Her books truly become a family affair.

 

Cinder Blocks to Goal Posts by Jocelyn Faire

What am I currently working on?

I am finishing a Creative non-fiction course towards the Creative Writing Certificate program through the U of C.

The Final Project, is the next one for me, which requires pre-submission of approximately fifty pages in your chosen genre. My goal is to have a collection of anecdotes, poetry, blog sized bits alongside photography. Small chunks for short reads of inspiration. Writings with a deeper spiritual purpose and meaning. I love the flow and density of language in poetry.

I also write a weekly blog on Hope in the Hard Places, at http://whoistalking.wordpress.com

I agree with Sandi Somers on the need to edit and organize writings.

Like many of you, I have hundreds of starts and prompts that take up pages and pages of notebooks, and are slightly more organized on my computer. My goal is to select and edit my pieces for The Final Project. 

Some of my pieces include, but are not limited to:

Be still—AGAIN

Bending in the Wind

Do the Math

Dishwasher Devo

Different Character Please

My Best Gifts are out of Context

John 15 and Drug Dealers

Letting God off the Hook

My Ways are Lower than Your Ways

Second Hand Smoke

Sense of Urgency

Tension and Release

Your Prayer is Important to Us (take a number)

Below is one of the poems written in an earlier course as I was looking at my own obstacles to writing. Learning to transform my resistance into resonance. Wishing you all a Barefoot Summer!

        Cement Blocks

        Cement blocks, ill fitting shoes

             Doubt on the left

             Fear on the right

             Laced with guilt

        It is hard to walk

             Harder to dance

                  Impossible to fly

                       Barefoot she skipped ahead.

Looking forward to Summer Writing Projects – Ramona Heikel

Of the many pieces I have started writing and not finished, there are only a handful that stay uppermost in my mind.  But what of the others?  I keep them in binders and enjoy revisiting them because there is a kernel of possibility in each one.  I am a packrat of drafts, it seems.  In my wildest dreams, I will one day have the time, energy and motivation to take each one and ponder it until it blossoms, or goes back to sleep.

Now, the truth is I am not currently working on any projects, except the odd blog post, because I don’t seem to have time or mental energy.  But!  The school year is winding up, and I will have time for writing soon! 

My top priority is a children’s Christmas story that I started in about 2009 at the request of some friends at church.  They decided we needed an original story for our children’s Christmas production and asked me to write it.  An idea came to me and I wrote like crazy for the two weeks before the production.  I don’t know when I’ve had more inspiration and joy in writing!  The adults loved O Holy Night, but while it was being read aloud in the rocking-chair-and-pajamas scene, I realized that it dragged in the middle.  (I got my cue when the preschoolers started yawning and sprawling themselves out on the floor!). 

A couple of years later I presented it to my writing critique group, who gave me excellent feedback and suggestions…and it’s been waiting for the editing to begin ever since!  And it might have kept waiting indefinitely if it hadn’t been for my artist friend who wants to illustrate it.  She recently sent me several sketches, and I’m wildly excited to make the words as good as her art.  Hopefully, I can make the required edits early in the summer and then look closely at the art. 

There is one part in the story that touches me deeply, and I want it to touch readers deeply too.  If it does, they will understand what being close to the Lord does to our souls.

Here is a little piece of the story:

           One night, Harold the mouse tried to work up the courage to leave the nest in the dried grass to get some berries for his growling stomach.  Manfred, his brother, joined him.  Their whiskers trembled like the dried leaves on the bush.  The two shivered together for a few minutes, but neither would make the first move.

“It’s not far to the berry bush,” Manfred said.  “But I’m still scared.”

“Me, too,” said Harold.  “I wish night time wasn’t so gloomy.”

The wind howled and the grass slapped them.  “Ouch!” Manfred said, moving away from the sharp blades of grass.  “It’s that wind!  And those strange noises it makes.”

“But what about that new guy, Ralphie?” Harold said.  “Nothing seems to bother him.”

“Sure wish I knew what makes him so brave,” Manfred sighed.  “Let’s go back inside.  I’m not so hungry after all.”  They disappeared into their hole to join their family in the warm nest.

Here’s wishing all my fellow contributors inspired ideas, writing and re-writing for their own projects!

Posted by Ramona

www.happilywriting.com

Taking a Novel Challenge - Ruth L. Snyder

I have always looked forward to sorting through the daily mail. This sense of anticipation probably started in my childhood when mail delivery to our isolated African mission station was unpredictable at best. This January when I sorted the mail one day I found a new treasure hiding among the bills. It was an invitation from the Long Ridge Writers' Group to participate in a novel writing course.

As I read the details, I knew I wanted to take the course. However, several arguments against saying yes filled my mind:

• I write mostly non-fiction
• I have five young children and limited time to write
• I'm not your typical novel writer - I haven't had a story twirling around in my brain just waiting for the right opportunity to be put onto paper
• Most of the pieces I write are between 500-2000 words

After praying about the opportunity and waiting for several weeks, I finally took the plunge and sent in my application. The instructor I was assigned seemed to be a perfect match for me - she described her struggles of finding writing time while raising her family. However, a few days after I received my writing package in the mail, I received an email informing me a new instructor had been assigned to me because my previous instructor was not able to fulfill her contract. At first I was discouraged, but then I read my new instructor's welcome letter. She too has experienced the challenge of balancing family responsibilities with writing time and in addition, she has experience in areas I need to grow in.

For assignment one I was required to come up with two different ideas for novels. To my surprise, two ideas were right there in my imagination waiting. I was excited about exploring both ideas, but was partial to one. After I sent off my assignment the doubts started coming. Who am I trying to fool? I just don't have it in me to write a novel. Where am I going to find the time? An idea is great, but how am I ever going to flesh it out? And even if I do, what valuable takeaway can I give my reader? One day I was filled with anticipation; the next day I wondered what I was getting myself into.

My instructor liked both of my ideas, but she preferred the same idea I did - a mystery set in Ottawa in the late 1950's. Assignment two focused on character development - especially figuring out what motivates your main character. My online critique partners were very helpful as I thought through how my main character would respond to a situation I chose. After several revisions I hit the "send" button.

Currently I'm working on the plot. I'm enjoying the process for the most part, but I still have those niggling doubts as well.

Is anyone else working on their first novel? I'd be interested in hearing about your challenges and successes.

Ruth L. Snyder

Check out Ruth's blogs: www.trusteesnyder.blogspot.com (Education information) www.ruthlsnyder.com (Ruth's writing and family life) and www.earlyyearssuccess.com (Information for caregivers of children ages 0-5)

Follow Ruth on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@wwjdr