Finishing School. Book Review by Brenda Leyland

Finishing School
The Happy Ending to That Writing Project
You Can't Seem to Get Done

by Cary Tennis and Danelle Morton

TarcherPerigee 2017

An Imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

“Not finishing a piece of writing can feel like the death of a dream. . . . Many writers start strong, with big ambitions, but eventually reach a crisis of completion.” CARY TENNIS 

Sound familiar? Has your beloved writing project reached a crisis of completion? Maybe you don’t know how to finish it or something keeps getting in the way of finishing it. Maybe you don't even want to finish at this point, though you know deep down you do. And, when you think about working on it, often feelings of shame, failure, and guilt show up, which certainly don't help. If that's the case, dear reader, take courage -- I might have just the book you need. Hot off the press, Finishing School promises to help writers out of their slumps and get back on track.

“Finishing School restores order to your work. It helps you set aside a realistic number of hours each week and define a task that can be completed in whatever time you have. Every week you finish something and, week by week, you get the project done.”

Finishing School is a breath of fresh air. Bestselling author Anne Lamott is quoted as saying, "I love Cary Tennis's mind, and heart, and work." I agree. It's about Tennis and Morton offering a simple method, without fuss or too many rules, to help you complete the project. All without judgment.

The book is filled with great self-discovery anecdotal material by both established authors. Divided into two parts, they first identify their own struggles with six emotional pitfalls that cause many writers to falter, even give up. Perhaps you recognize them: Doubt, Shame, Yearning, Fear, Judgment, and Arrogance. In the book's second half, the authors talk about the Finishing School method and how it works.

Cary Tennis convened the first class of Finishing School and Danelle Morton was his first pupil. Both had long-dormant projects they were desperate to complete. Their journey of discovery in this school  eventually became the basis for this book. Tennis encouraged his students to give their project the status of 'most important work in your life'—setting it in a ‘sacred’ place in your mind and reminding you to honour your commitment to it.

Although the book was written for writers, the method used is easily transferable for anyone who has a large task they want to finish. As Tennis says, “If finishing this project is something you really want to do, you have to go after it with everything you have within you.” Finishing School is the book that could help you do it.

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Sensitive Reader Discretion: A small amount of cuss words are scattered throughout the book.

Brenda Leyland is working on her Project 60: gathering the memories of a lifetime lived thus far. She invites you to visit her blog at It's A Beautiful Life and connect with her on Facebook.

Fuel for a Balanced Life by Susan Barclay

Maintaining balance is important!

Dictionary.com offers 31 definitions for the word 'balance' so clearly even the best minds have difficulty with this subject! The meaning that I'm going to use is number 11, "the act of balancing; comparison as to weight, amount, importance, etc.; estimate."

When I first read the topic for August, my thought was: "Balance. Ugh. Is there such a thing?" The way I look at it in light of the above definition is that the art of balancing means I've correctly evaluated life's priorities and am proactive to address them in their proper order. And while I think I've successfully accomplished part A of that equation, I've a long way to go on part B.

It's not that I haven't tried. I've used my calendar to create detailed schedules, outlining devotional, family, work, writing, volunteer and other commitments. I've tried 'to do' lists and apps, a white board, computer sticky notes. I've read books on the topic, and I've tried saying no to all but the essentials.  So far nothing has worked long-term.

This well-known phrase strikes me as true: "life would be easy if it weren't for other people." One of the major obstacles to attaining balance has to do with others in my life. To put it simply, my husband, my young adult children, my mother, my employer, all have needs and expectations. My husband longs for an uncluttered home (as do I, for that matter!). My children are torn between dependence and independence. My mother is getting older and requires more frequent check-ins and visits. My employer expects my presence and hard work at the scheduled times. Of course I don't want these people out of my life, but where do my own needs and desires fit in? I know I have the same number of hours in a day as Mother Teresa, etc., but I am not Mother Teresa!

In Dancing Through Life, (which I admit I haven't read yet), Candace Cameron Bure says,

“The pace of life is often so fast, we don’t always have time to pause and spend time with the Lord. We must take advantage of the time we do have so His Word is stored in our hearts and can be our fuel in the busyness of life.” 

God's Word is fuel!

Therein lies the answer. In belonging to God, His strength and wisdom are mine! I know that Jesus took time to rest and commune with His father. I know that He is my example. My new challenge  is to search the Bible for more on what it says about living life in balance. If anyone has any scriptures to get me started, please leave them in the comments!
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Susan maintains a website at www.susan-barclay.blogspot.com 

Basking in the Sonshine by Steph Beth Nickel

I wrote the following post for HopeStreamRadio, and it seems to fit with this month's theme quite nicely. I gave it the title "Treasured Rest," but "Basking in the Sonshine" works as well. Be encouraged.

As I write this, I am officially on holidays. Although I have a very full day ahead of me, getting things done around the house, primarily in my home office, I look forward to a couple of weeks of rest and relaxation. As I finish up this devotional, I am approximately eight-and-a-half hours away from taking off for Alberta.

While I am thrilled for this opportunity to visit the Rockies with my husband of almost 35 years—and know he and this trip are gifts from God—that is not the kind of rest the Lord is referring to in Matthew 11. This is a more amazing type of rest, one that we can enjoy while on vacation or in the midst of our most busy, demanding day.

God's Idea of Rest

In verses 28-30 of Matthew 11, Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (ESV).

If we come to Jesus and accept the gift of salvation He purchased, it’s highly unlikely He will remove all the people and circumstances from our life that we find burdensome and exhausting. However, we can discover a peace that overshadows even the most challenging task or individual.

An Amazing Example

There is a dear senior saint in our congregation who will likely go home to be with the Lord before I return from holidays. Although I haven’t gone to see him in hospital, our pastor has—several times. And his report? That Harry never fails to be an encouragement. He has a big smile on his face and reassures everyone that he is ready to enter eternity. Even his wife and daughter shared this with me recently. That’s the kind of peace that surpasses human understanding.

And that same peace is will be what sees his family and friends through the challenging days ahead.

Invitations and Commands

Although the verses in Matthew 11 read as a wondrous invitation—and they are—there are actually three commands in the passage. We are to come to Jesus. We are to take His yoke upon us. And we are to learn from Him. These are not suggestions. They are imperatives.

We must come to Him, originally for salvation and then day by day for comfort, guidance, direction, etc. We will not experience His ongoing gift of true peace and rest if we neglect our time with Him and our fellowship with other believers.

Second we are to take His yoke upon us. Remember what Jesus says in Luke 9:23: If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

In human terms, we think of rest as a break from our routine, possibly to sleep in, sit on the beach, and read a book. While all of these may, in one way, be restful, they have little, if anything, to do with taking up our cross.

As we learn what the Lord would have us do with our life, and we willingly lay aside our own agenda, we will experience a rest that makes vacationing seem insignificant in comparison.

The last command the Lord gives in this passage is the directive to learn from Him. And that will take a lifetime.

Learning from the Lord's Example

How do we learn from Jesus?

We study the gospels. John is my personal favourite.

Next, we must prayerfully ask the Lord to show us how Jesus’s example translates into our own life. 
We must seek to live according to His example and instruction. This won’t happen in our own strength. We must rely on the Holy Spirit to give us the desire to do so—and the insight as to how to follow the Saviour’s example.

We ask for forgiveness when we fail to do so. As believers in Jesus, we can rest assured that He has already done so. Talk about a cause for peace!

Whether we’re on vacation or in the midst of our busiest time of the year, these pursuits are crucial.

A life of godly rest may or may not include a vacation in the mountains. It will, however, include sacrifice, denying oneself, and hard work. But even more than that, it will mean partnering with the Lord Himself, walking side by side with Him, and finding deep soul rest because of His grace.

Writing and (Other Areas of) Life: A Balancing Act by Sandi Somers

Our lives are often busy with many responsibilities that can interrupt our writing life. “Maybe life IS the interruptions,” wrote Janice Dick in her blog. “Maybe my writing is the commentary I fit in as often as I can. I call it my vocation, my career, my job. But it will always be a balancing act with what happens off the page.”   (Read her blog here.)

 Our writers this month explore what balancing life on and off the page means to them. How do they balance the two? What insights will they share with you, our readers?

"To everything there is a season. "

This spring I had a lot of yard work to do. My fence needed painting, my flower beds needed redesigning and my shrubs needed trimming. I had to catch up from a couple years of benign neglect. My writing, it's true, got behind. But while painting, planting and trimming, I thought a lot about this month’s topic and how writing is a commentary on life.

Each season brings a different phase of life. Like the different seasons, different activities come and go. It’s true that in summer I’m usually busier with family—and yes, with yard work. The outdoors calls me to go bird watching, and right now, to go pick saskatoons with a friend. And therefore summer is a time when I don't have time for too much writing. However, in winter I’m more indoors. When the wind howls, the snow falls and the temperature plunges, I feel like I’m in a cocoon, curling up with my writing for most of each morning.  During this time I normally accomplish the bulk of my year’s writing. 

Life is holistic. Writing and the other areas of my life are not mutually exclusive. Writing is one part of life, along with relationships, responsibilities, relaxation and more. And all parts are integral, adding richness to life. I also find that experiences and responsibilities and people add a deeper understanding of God and how He works, and this understanding adds depth to my writing.

Writing is fed from ongoing life. I’ve found that the richer my ongoing life, the richer my writing will be, as it draws from deep resources the way a tree draws refreshment from deep within its roots. I well remember an interview I heard with Wayson Choy, a Chinese Canadian writer, who said that he gets to live his experiences twice: once in real time, and a second time as he relives those experiences in writing.

Each season brings its own adventure, and I focus on the positive as much as possible, rather than the limitations. To illustrate this concept, I think of my friends who live on Vancouver Island: each trip off the island means scheduling a ferry ride—that part of life is bound up by the ferry schedule that can sometimes be a burden. Whereas as a tourist I find that the ferry trip is part of the adventure of travelling to the island.

Each season is a time to appreciate God’s goodness. I look at Ecclesiastes 3 where the writer says that there is a time for everything. And then in a beautiful poetic style, he contrasts the different seasons of life. He concludes with, “(God) has made everything beautiful in it time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

God has made beautiful what happens both on and off the page.