Weighing in Your Writing by Pamela Mytroen

A while back I decided I needed to lose some weight. I stepped on the scale the next morning and took note of where I was at. The next morning I did the same thing. I carefully followed my ritual every morning for a full year, fully expecting to see a change in the numbers. I did manage to wear two perfect footprints into the rubber pad, but alas, I did not lose a single ounce.

The other routine I followed religiously was that I continued to eat all my favourite foods, especially my hot buttered popcorn and potato chips. Yet I kept hoping that I would see a new mark on the scale. What is the definition of insanity? Doing something the same way repeatedly and expecting different results every time? If I expected to see a change, then my routine needed to change.

So it is with writing. If we are not progressing, something needs to change. The same old routine is not going to magically produce results. I would love to wake up a writer with a published book and several more writing credits to my name but I have discovered it’s not enough to think, talk, and dream about being a writer. Strong desire does not equal amazing results. It’s not enough to ‘weigh in’ every morning and see if I have magically written anything in my sleep. Something has to change. Something needs to be sacrificed.

My writing strategy this past year was to write first and THEN check my email and facebook. It worked. I was able to have many non-fiction pieces published. Funny how just that one little sacrifice had to be made. My writing plan for this year is to give up that first golden hour after supper – from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. when the couch is calling after a day at work. I have started this routine and have discovered that once I get writing it is often 8:30 or 9:00 before I need a break. I am also part of a small facebook writing group. We write for 30 days and then choose our best rough work and send it out to each other for editing. We have had a few stalls but we’re still going and I find I am motivated to write just knowing that they will be waiting to see a piece.

These days when I weigh in my writing, and on the scale too (the popcorn machine doesn’t come out as often) I am seeing a new balance with more credits to my name.

What are you willing to give up to see change?

Pam Mytroen

Stay Close to the Source by T. L. Wiens

How many of you have read something and thought this is a very interesting theology? Sometimes I’ve read things and thought, wow, someone else sees the same thing in scripture that I see. Then I continue to read and find there it is, the false teaching that so many times contradicts the very thing the author has set out to point out to other believers.

Why does this happen so often? It discredits everything—the truth is lost. And I live in fear of being that author. How do we avoid something that seems like a very basic human weakness? The Bible.

We all need to study our Bibles, not with a devotional manual but with the Holy Spirit guiding us. Sometimes this means putting down a lot of preconceived notions put there by our own thoughts on issues, church background and denominational lines. This is not easy but must be done to make sure we’re not sabotaging our own faith. We all want to honour Jesus Christ in the words we write. The only way to do that is by making sure we know His Word first.

2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Hibernate to or Hibernate from - Connie Inglis

To Hibernate (from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary):

1. to pass the winter in a torpid or resting state
2. to be or become inactive or dormant 

Do you ever feel the need or desire to hibernate from your writing--to become inactive and dormant?  With all the Christmas and New Year's activities this past month, I feel like the opposite has been true. While I love the holidays, I also do like returning to routine and writing calls me back like a long-lost friend.  However, it is also true that even in routine I get pulled in different directions and writing gets put on the back burner more often than I care to admit. And thus I must fight to be able to hibernate "to" writing rather than hibernate "from" writing. Is there anyone else out there that has this same dilemma?

Julia Cameron's book, The Right to Write, has some excellent thoughts and exercises for writers. I recently read the chapter entitled, "Loneliness" and felt it spoke to this "hibernation" subject. Here's a quote from the beginning of the chapter:

"So much has been written about the loneliness of the writer's lot that it feels like heresy to report the truth as I know it: in my experience, not writing is a lonely business. The minute I let myself write, everything else falls into balance. If I get a dose of writing in my day, then I can actually socialize with a clear conscience." 

Her words got me thinking--maybe my issue is that I'm NOT writing and thus easily pulled into other things, things that sometimes are of no value. Part of my problem is that I feel like I need a big chunk of time in order to write, which isn't true. Half an hour here, 15 minutes there. Even if it's just a quick writing exercise, it's still writing. When I've done this is the past, it rejuvenates and refreshes me and yet I seem to easily forget that. Needless to say, I am still working through all this. 

Cameron also goes on to say that writing is a "balm for loneliness"--that it connects us to ourselves and then to others. I would agree but I would also like to add to that. As a follower of Jesus, I also believe it connects us to God. He is our Creator and He created us to write. He put in us this desire, this need, this "gift" (If I may say) to write. So when we write, we are glorifying God and praising Him for the way He made us. 

THAT'S the right perspective--and THAT'S the way I need to view writing.

Gateway to the New Year by Sharon Espeseth

Taking down the kitchen calendar, I couldn’t help but notice the cluttered squares representing each day of 2013. Using White-out to clean it up would be ridiculous. Instead this historical record will go on the pile of similar calendars in the closet.

Posting the 2014 replacement calendar, I smile at its white spaces. Although some appointments are already noted, the pages look snowy clean by comparison. Pen tracks will gradually personalize these pristine pages too. Who know what events, emergencies, and milestones will fill these squares.

Standing at the gate of the New Year is not a new idea by any means, but still it's worth considering. Janus, the mythological Roman god, was considered the Gatekeeper of the New Year. If I needed a gatekeeper, I wouldn't choose a Roman mythological being. I do however like the image of Janus looking back over what has happened and looking ahead to anticipate what might come. Like Janus, I too glance back at the bumpy and diverse roads I've traveled and I do wonder about the future.

Grandsons Caleb and Logan pose for a "Janus" photo.
Photo by Jenny Bayes

Today we are encouraged to live in the present, so much so that it seems we are discouraged from giving serious consideration to the past or the future. Take that memoir writers and goal setters!

This strong living-in-the-present philosophy may have stemmed from Lao Tzu, a Chinese philosopher from before the time of Christ, who said, “If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.”

I agree that if we let ourselves get stuck in the past or dwell too much on the future, this may not be mentally healthy. I have heard present-day psychologists explain in simple terms that worrying about the past causes depression and worrying about the future causes anxiety. It isn’t thinking about the past or the future that would cause us harm; rather it is worrying about the past or the future, neither of which we can do anything about, that would cause us harm.

In Matthew 6: 34, Jesus said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Following Christ’s teaching, I feel no guilt about looking behind me to see where I’ve been, nor looking ahead to set goals for growth and improvement in the year ahead.

I see value in looking backward and forward from the moment I am experiencing. I am thankful for the blessings of the past, for lessons learned, and for the people who’ve helped me to become the person I am.

From a faith perspective, our errors, oversights, or sins of the past can be forgiven. Christ died for that purpose, and I am thankful the old calendar of my life has been wiped clean. Isn’t that something to write about? Like Moses, I have stories to record and share. My lessons learned may be of benefit to others.

As for the New Year ahead, I have hope. No, I don’t know the future, but I know the One who does. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God gave us the message, “’For I know the plans I have for you. . . plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Prayer: Lord, I trust you to be the Gatekeeper to my past, present, and future. May I ever trust in You, who are my Shepherd and my Gatekeeper.

          Sharon Espeseth