'A' is for Albatross? by Sharon Heagy

                                                        photo by Alain Rider (Unsplash)
    

     Albatross is not my ‘A’ word for the month but I think it is kind of a cool word to say and quite an interesting bird to read about. Which is to say, when I began writing this blog post and decided to entitle it ‘A is for Albatross’, I was led down a path of discovery all about albatrosses. One of the interesting tidbits I learned was that the albatross will sometimes abandon its nest, especially if it is a first-time nester. This doesn’t bode well for the population as they only lay and hatch one egg at a time. This brings me to my actual ‘A’ word which is abandon.

    Abandon can have many negative associations. It can evoke a sense of sadness when we are watching nature shows and animals abandon their nests or young. Stories of parents or caregivers abandoning children, the ill or the elderly can crush our hearts and leave us wondering how we can help. It can refer to someone who embraces an illicit lifestyle such as drugs, theft or love affairs which they pursue with abandon. With no restraint or inhibitions. Reckless. But when it comes to writing, and especially for the Christian author, abandon takes on a different bent.

    Yes, there are times we need to abandon a piece we are writing because it just will not work no matter how hard we try to mould it into something worthwhile. We will need to discard it, ditch it, rip off the band-aid and throw it away, and then, more importantly, begin again.

    Facing the blank page once more. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. What am I going to do now? My first move needs to be to abandon my work in a different way than the examples above. I need to yield and give it over to the One from whom my gift was given. My first posture needs to be one of prayer and praise. Yet I must move beyond that to doing the work that accompanies faith.  

    This leads to the next exciting part, the writing. The process. And in that process I need to learn to write with complete lack of inhibition or restraint, entire and utter surrender, with complete abandon. The ink flowing from the Holy Spirit through my head and heart and onto the page. Words gushing out like they are coming from a holy fountain pen. This does not come naturally in my fleshly state but those times can come with practice.

In his book, ‘Your God is Too Safe’, Mark Buchanan talks about practicing the presence of God:

     “That’s why we need to practice the presence of God: Not just to acknowledge in some     philosophical way that God is present, but to rehearse, to repeat, to work and rework our knowledge that even though we don’t see Him and sometimes don’t feel Him, He is there. He is here. When we practice the presence of God, we train ourselves to desire His presence-to resist our temptation to flee Him. We also train ourselves to experience His presence-to resist our temptation to think that He flees us. In other words, the practice of the presence of God helps us to live between the temptations of Jonah bound for Tarshish and John bound in prison. Jonah is the prophet who wants to abandon God. John is the prophet who feels abandoned by God.”

May each one of us practice His presence in 2023 and learn to write with abandon to the glory of God. 

A Plan for the New Year by Steph Beth Nickel

 Many people choose a Word of the Year. Do you?

Optionally, you may want to choose a Phrase and/or a Verse of the Year.

This year, God dropped both a phrase and a verse into my life.

I first came across my Phrase of the Year in a devotional in one of the Facebook groups I belong to. 

The phrase: Simple, Not Easy

Often, what we're called to do, even what we want to do, is simple, 

especially if we break it down into bite-sized tasks.

However, it's rarely easy.

That's where my Verse of the Year comes in.

In the NIV, Proverbs 16:9 says,

"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps."

I have several simple goals for 2023.

Like many of us, I want to...

1. Get more exercise and eat more healthfully.

2. Write and publish more.

3. Read more books.

4. Be more supportive of my friends and family.

5. Do more to point people to Jesus.

There are many simple things I can do in each of these areas.

Plus, it's my responsibility to set achievable goals and follow through.

But we all know...

Life doesn't always go as planned.

We have to trust the Lord to establish our steps...

Even when those steps don't take us along the path we expected them to.

What is your Word or Phrase of the Year?

Do you have a Verse of the Year that you're focusing on?

Let's encourage one another by sharing them in the comments.

Advice from Admired Artists by Joylene M Bailey

 

Photo by Pixabay

~~~~~

Over the years, as I've honed my craft of writing, I've learned from many different writers. Whether through a lecture, a workshop, a book, or documentary, these authors - and some other artists - have inspired me and spurred me on. I've filled journals with their quotes.

For my January post, I thought I'd share some Advice from Admired Artists in the hope that at least one of them, new or familiar, will encourage and inspire you in your writing today and into this year.

In no particular order, here are 23 quotes for 2023:

There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you. 

- Beatrix Potter

***

The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes. 

- Agatha Christie

***

One of the best forms for a long narrative, as was found in The Hobbit, ... is the pilgrimage on journey with an object. That was the form I adopted. 

- J.R.R. Tolkien

***

Good ink cannot be the quick kind, ready to pour out of a bottle. You can never be an artist if your work comes without effort. That is the problem with modern ink from a bottle. You do not have to think. You simply write what is swimming on the top of your brain. And the top is nothing but pond scum, dead leaves, and mosquito spawn. But when you push an inkstick along an inkstone, you take the first step to cleansing your mind and your heart. You push and you ask yourself, what are my intentions? What is in my heart that matches my mind? 

- Amy Tan, The Bonesetter's Daughter

***

Everybody is creative, and everybody is talented. I just don't think everybody is disciplined. I think that's a rare commodity. 

- Al Herschfeld

***

Have compassion for yourself when you write. There is no failure --- just a big field to wander in.

- Natalie Goldberg

***

Perhaps in their small way, writers can answer for those who are voiceless in their extreme deprecation and suffering. But at best, in the very smallest scheme, writing can provide a moment of grace, both for she who writes and he who reads, in a very dark world.

- Cecile Pineda

***

The most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, familiar things new.

- William Makepeace Thackeray

***

On the page, punctuation performs its grammatical function, but in the mind of the reader it does more than that. It tells the reader how to hum the tune.

- Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots and Leaves

***

I never could have done what I have done ... without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.

- Charles Dickens

***

If I didn't know the ending of a story, I wouldn't begin. I always write my last line, my last paragraph, my last page first.

- Katherine Anne Porter

***

 

Photo from Pixabay

***

Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book: give it, give it all, give it now.

- Annie Dillard

***

No tears for the writer, no tears for the reader.

- Robert Frost

***

My first novel was turned down by 31 publishers.

- James Patterson

***

Writing a book is a task of will, time, and the courage to fail if required.

- Dr. Barbara Sinor, PH.D

***

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

***

The writer's job is to stare.

- Kate DiCamillo

***

You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should've behaved better.

- Anne Lamott

***

Excellence does not require perfection.

- Henry James

***

When you are describing a shape, or sound, or tint,

Don't state the matter plainly, but put it in a hint,

And learn to look at all things, with a sort of mental squint.

- Lewis Carroll

***

Broadly speaking, short words are best and the old words, when short, are best of all.

- Winston Churchill

***

Writing should be like a cottage garden, with no straight path; it should meander, around corners, through creaking gates, looking for the secret places - like life.

- Susan Branch

***

Don't forget - no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.

- Charles de Lint

~~~~~

Joy enjoys collecting inspiring quotes from other artists. She loves learning about their process, and what helps them get the job done. She writes from her home in rural Alberta, where she lives with The Cowboy, a half grown puppy named Chara, and a new kitten called Rhubarb. Find more of her Joy infused writing at Scraps of Joy.

Get Your Aha in 2023 by Bob Jones

A is for aha.

 

Writing this post was the product of an aha. The writing prompt was to muse about a word starting with “A.” One word came to mind, and I thought “aha” and changed my choice to aha. It’s a fascinating word and an even better feeling.

 

In August of 2012, Merriam-Webster released their annual list of new dictionary words—terms and popular slang that have earned their way into the lexicon through common use. At the very top was a phrase popularized by Oprah: "Aha moment." Webster defines the term as “a moment of sudden inspiration, insight, recognition or comprehension." Oprah elaborated, “it's the kind of a lightbulb, bing bing bing" moment, in which "the little hairs on your arms stand up."

 

Bing, Bing, Bing

 

We can generally recognize when an aha moment has happened to us.

 

“They are the accelerators of the possibilities; they dissolve boundaries and make us see things differently. Once a mind has been stretched by one ‘Aha!’ moment, it can never go back to its original state.” Ina Catrinescu, author of Burnout Breakthrough

 

In March 2022, a younger friend and colleague died unexpectedly. He was supposed to preach at a camp meeting in June. When I agreed to substitute for him, I felt honoured, inadequate, and overwhelmed. But the Holy Spirit inspired me. My aha moment was an assurance that I wasn’t there in his place, I was there in God’s place. I was able to include some of my friend’s values and stories in the messages.

 

The Work of the Holy Spirit

 

Artists, poets, writers, and leaders attest to the inspiration of aha.

Giacomo Puccini who wrote the music of Madame Butterfly claims it was dictated to him by God.

 

Keith Morant was an internationally acclaimed artist who painted for over 50 years. He said he wasn’t sure where his ideas came from, he could only state “I pray to God and the composition comes.”

 

RalphWaldo Emerson wrote, “the poet sometimes seems to have a chamber in his brain into which an angel flies with divine messages.”

 

Rudyard Kipling warned “I have learned that when your inner helper is in charge do not try to think consciously. Draft, wait, and obey.”

 

The great artist Mark Rothko said, “the people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them.”

 

William Blake said, “the one power that makes a poet is divine vision.”

 

An aha moment is also when your readers realize the value of your writing. What you produce is light and life. How much is seeing the light worth to a person in the dark?

 

A bright idea can add richness to a reader’s soul or money to your pocket. Why not both?

 

Igniting Aha

 

Are you struggling with an idea for your writing? Do you feel challenged by wanting to see your writing make a difference in the lives of your readers? As a writer you know the value of your compositions, but you are flummoxed by a lack of ideas to give your writing profile in a proliferation of content.

 

You need an aha moment. Some of the best ideas are simply spiritual ahas; divinely inspired moments of light. God has switched on more light bulbs than all the power companies in the world.

 

Have you observed that you make the best decisions not while actively trying to make a choice but, say, taking a shower, knitting, or working out? This is because ‘aha!’ moments that spark brilliant, unexpected ideas tend to crop up when our minds are quiet, and our consciousness is at rest.

 

The good news is that these flashes of insight are not as random as they seem and can be fostered by specific conditions.

 

Sitting with a favourite author's thoughts can often inspire your own.

 

Thomas Edison would routinely let his mind wander hoping to capture fleeting bits of innovative thought. He would write down his thoughts during that period, in the belief that they were often creative.

 

Silence and solitude are crucial for nurturing aha moments. Peace, quiet and prayer or meditation are creative combos.

 

I’ll be cheering on your writing and expect to be reading about your aha moments in 2023. 

 

Bob Jones writes to grow hope, inspire people to be real, forge an authentic faith in Jesus, and discover their life purpose. You can follow his writing at REVwords.com