Oh, no . . . wait!
That was yesterday. Thankfully, the temperature was high enough to get rid of
the snow that fell, an early April Fool’s joke. The trees did look beautiful
with the clean white stuff clinging to their branches, but like most people, I
am glad to see the signs of spring.
Autumn has been my
favourite season as long as I can remember. I love the sights, the sounds, and
the smells. It wasn’t until my hubby started keeping me posted on the
development of the buds on the trees that I even really noticed spring. And now
the crocuses, the tulips, the robins, and yes, the buds touch my heart with
their promise of new life.
And with spring comes
Camp NaNoWriMo. Many of you may be familiar with the original version of
NaNoWriMo that runs in the fall. Thousands of writers sign up with the aim of
writing the first draft of a novel, at least the first 50,000 words, in a
single month.
While I have never
signed up in the fall, I have “attended” camp a couple of times and am doing so
again this month. The nice thing is that we can set our own word count goal and
our own projects plural. (In fact, this post is counting toward my goal.
Hooray!) My personal goal is to write at least 30,000 words this month. That
shouldn’t be a problem with my eclectic interests and endeavours.
And that’s how I keep
my writing fresh: I write several short pieces on a wide variety of topics.
Let me take a moment to say kudos to all of you who invest the time and energy to draft, write, and rewrite (numerous times) full-length books. I am somewhat in awe of you. While I did coauthor Deb Willows’ memoir, Living Beyond My Circumstances, it was more about getting to know her and her family and relaying stories from her life that she wanted to share with readers. I’m all about relationships, so this didn’t seem quite the same as holing up for months on end to write—and rewrite—a single book.
I have what I call the
Butterfly Syndrome. I love to flit from one thing to the next to the next. This
is why I overcommit at times. So many different things catch my attention. Some
of you may be able to relate to sayings like “Oo . . . pretty” and “Squirrel!”
Unless ideas are
bouncing around in my head like a pinball, I feel lethargic. I have to focus my
endeavours—or nothing gets finished—but I can’t rein in my thoughts completely
or it’s like someone has turned off the tap and left my lazy, listless self
sitting in my chair—or on the couch in front of the TV—for hours on end.
So when I was asked to
guest post on my fellow writers’ blogs and when Ron Hughes of HopeStreamRadio
approached me about being a contributor, I was over the moon. Coming up with
new content regularly means my ideas and my writing must stay fresh.
When writing
devotionals for HSR, I dig into God’s Word. I’ve found, once again, how amazing
it is to find new insights in passages I’ve read dozens—maybe hundreds—of times
before. It truly is the Living Word.
And when I’m writing
blog posts, I often follow the advice of a visiting missionary who spoke at our
church years ago. When asked to speak, he considered what the Lord had been
teaching him at the time. He most often used that as the springboard for his
message. When I approach a new post, I look to what has been going on in my
life. I often find the inspiration I need to get started from my day-to-day
life and go from there.
Keep a lookout. Fresh
ideas and inspiration are all around, just like the signs of spring.
