My Writing Life Looks a Lot Like My Lawn by Bob Jones

The other day, I came inside with dirt on my hands and grass seed stuck to my shoes after one more attempt to fix the dead spots in our lawn before winter.

Jocelyn and I had been away most of the summer, and when we returned, our yard told the story of our absence: a patchwork of healthy green mixed with deathly grey. And of course, my perfection seeking eyes went straight to the grey.

On the bright side, the lawn is weed-free—thanks to the lawn company I hired. But the grass itself? Not so lucky. Earlier in the season, I’d patched and seeded with new growth, but weeks of drought while we were gone undid all that progress.

Jocelyn insists it doesn’t look as bad as I think. Maybe she’s right. But when I see the grey patches, all I can think about is fixing them.

The Secret

So, one more time, I dig, remove some old earth, spread fresh topsoil, scatter seed, sprinkle fertilizer, cover it gently with more topsoil, water, pray, and water again. The secret to new grass isn’t complicated: keep the soil moist.

And somewhere between watering the ground and brushing the dirt from my hands, it hit me: my writing life in 2025 looks a lot like my lawn.

There are spots of vibrant growth—moments I’m proud of. And there are patches that look deathly and barren. And just like grass needs water, my writing needs reading.

A Watered Soul

Reading other writers waters my soul. I soak up your subjects, your styles, and your sticky phrases.

· Brenda, your phrase about memoir writing as "a lifetime in a timeline" gave me writers envy.

· Susan, your poetic confession, "I am being reduced" carried surprising strength in its surrender.

· Sharon, your description of a favourite author’s ability to "wake up my gray cells." made me grin.

Encouraged

The prompt asked whether I feel encouraged to keep writing. Without a doubt. I'll keep working on my lawn and my writing because I want to be proud of what is produced.

And I reflect on God’s promise in the prompt:

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions

never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

—Lamentations 3:22-23

God loves us—even when we’re our own worst critics. Maybe the best gift we can give ourselves is a little compassion. Compassion is like morning dew: quiet, renewing, faithful.

A daily grace that waters a writer's soul.

 

Bob and Jocelyn are both REVs and write at www.REVwords.com about hope and lately about the people they encountered in Ukraine.

One Unfinished Project: Starting Again by Brenda Leyland

"To do it, you have to do it."

Susan Branch

 

There's nothing quite so daunting as picking up an old unfinished project. The word 'unfinished' gives our inner gut an unsettled feeling. And staring at a listless dog-eared pile (paper or digital) certainly doesn't encourage any kind of inspiration. If you've ever left a craft project undone, like counted cross-stitch, you'll know what I mean. You reach in the bag to find a jumble of supplies of thread and yarn (you're certain you never left it in such a state). First you peer with squinty eyes at the pattern to figure out where you left off, then you try to locate the exact spot on your half-stitched canvas where to ply the needle. It's doable. Just starting is half the battle.

We all know it's no easier for writers to pull out an old project with its various drafts and piles of tattered notes. Even if we might still have a desire to finish it, we've probably lost that first flush of excitement. In our mind's eye, it's old hat. As my dear friend's daughter Karla said, "[We] have to be reinspired to see the old content in a new and fresh way".

I need to be reinspired for a certain project that comes to mind.

In my last post HERE I mentioned a memoir that had percolated in my heart for numerous years before I started it the autumn of 2013. I had read Lisa Dale Norton's memoir writing book Shimmering Images, contacted her in California and signed up to take her memoir writing course. I learned a lot. Looking back, what I should have done at that point was to take advantage of her editorial services and further instruction. But I unwisely thought I could do it myself (resources being at a premium at the time). I spent 30 days gathering the memories and writing them down, also doing research from old journals. I had around 40,000 words. In May 2014, I went on a writers' retreat to work on it and received encouraging support from other writers. On my own, indecision, still unclear of what all I would include, and never settling on how to proceed got me tangled up (like those yarns and threads I mentioned earlier). I worked away on it here and there but having never undertaken such a large writing project—I was a blogger at heart—it all felt too big.

Until 2018, at which point Joy Bailey and I joined forces and became writing buddies. We were going to help each other get our writing projects done. We used as our how-to manual the book by Cary Tennis and Danelle Morton Finishing School: The Happy Ending to That Writing Project You Can't Seem to Get Done. Work plans were made; due dates were scheduled. We agreed to check in with each other once a week. Reviewing each other's work wasn't part of the plan, it was just to have some accountability to one another. Oh, and we'd send text 'pings!' when we started each day's work. We were on a roll. We met our writing goals. We were making progress. In this new restart, by this time I had mulled enough on my memoir that I had a clear idea of where I was going with it. I had chapter outlines, and several chapters had good drafts now done. It should have been clear sailing, right?

Then other things crowded in, those life events that happen to many of us; plans got railroaded. Joy and I still made weekly goals, but they grew smaller as we tried to fit our writing around all the other needful things going on. Things like health issues for ourselves and for family members, moving and building a new home for one of us, living through a global pandemic, family emergencies. Sometimes all the energy we had on check in day was to say, we got little done, but we're still here, hoping for better writing days ahead.

By this time it's 2022 and the project was on a slow burn to fizzling out. The desire to keep working faded. Maybe it had disappeared into the pandemic ether. Although the lockdowns and different life patterns during this time inspired many people to create new work, I was not one of them. Inspiration was near zero, as was the sense of urgency to get written what had lived bright in my heart for nearly a decade. Whose idea was this, I never really wanted to write a book, did I? I finally admitted to Joy this last spring that maybe the season to write this memoir had passed, and I didn't know if I wanted to start again.

But God... (as Connie Inglis has been known to say).

Fast forward to August 2025. Our blog's writing prompt happened to be about the seasons of life and writing. I hadn't planned to write a guest post for it, but I felt drawn to consider doing so (it's the one I mentioned earlier HERE). Publishing the post and receiving kindly feedback from readers, I have been feeling a rising interest...with gentle tugs at my heart to revisit this stalled project. This will make it the third or fourth restart since my first attempt. As autumn surges in on the refreshing breezes, it comes with a sense of hopefulness that maybe I can start again... again. I chatted with Joy to see if she'd be up for reconvening Finishing School. Yes, she was feeling a similar resurgence of zeal. Perhaps the pair of us joining forces once again, facing the 'elements' together, we'll achieve our goal of projects finished. We pulled out the Finishing School book to refresh our minds on how to proceed.

Now, I'm asking the good Lord to reinspire us, as Karla had suggested was needed. And to give us a fresh vision on how to go forward in this current season of our lives. You see, Karla after reading my last post said she knows people who would be encouraged by my story... should I feel His urging to start again. 

This time next year, perhaps someone here will ask, "Did you finish that memoir you were working on last September?" I would like to respond, "Yes, I did!" And, maybe, even hand them my book. Fingers crossed.

(Top) Photo credit: Image by Mark from Pixabay

Brenda has been a longtime member of InScribe and is glad for this company of writers with whom she can share the writing journey. At the present time, she guest blogs here and writes regularly on her own blog It's A Beautiful Life. She can also be found on Facebook, Instagram, and BlueSky.

 

His Eye is On the Sparrow by Susan Barclay

 

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

This verse begins the September writing prompt for Inscribers as we are asked to reflect on our writing journey so far this year and on our plans for the remaining months.

To be honest, the last few years have been challenging in almost every area, including writing. I am content, and consider it a win, to meet the monthly deadline for these blog posts!

It seems the remainder of this year is likely to be devoted to decluttering and packing up my mom’s house. She’s finally mentally and emotionally ready to tackle it; alas, not so much physically. She’s tired all the time now, so the bulk of the work is left to me. Her house has over 60 years’ worth of accumulation. Think about that and remember that she grew up during the Depression and war years! She doesn’t want to part with much, and even though I’m the one doing the physical labour, I’m trying to honour her wishes while praying the Lord loosens her grip on things, or that they lose their grip on her.

Lamentations 3:22-23 reminds us of the faithfulness of our God and that His “compassions” (in other translations His “mercies”) are new every morning. How thankful I am for these truths as I fluctuate between gratitude that I can help and support my mom (with my husband's assistance and blessing) and wishing that this “cup” would pass from me. I don’t even feel inspired to journal these days, sensing an interruption could come at any moment. Prayer is my greater focus, the spoken word I cannot do without.

One day, if Jesus tarries, I will have time to write with greater intensity and frequency, in greater quantity. For now, I yield myself to this season, letting my heart sing the words of an old hymn: “All I have needed thy hand hast provided; Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.” His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

___________________________

c. Susan Barclay, 2025. For more about Susan and her writing, please visit www.susan-barclay.blogspot.com

A Big Picture View of My Writing by Sandi Somers

 

 On a mission trip to northern Haiti in 2006, some of our group hiked up to the mountain fortress of La Citadelle Henri Christophe. What a 360 º view of Northern Haiti! I was especially surprised by the small area near the Caribbean coast in which we had travelled. It had seemed like a distance as we drove on rutted roads from one point to another past villages, into Cap-Haitien, and to the pastor’s house where we helped with construction. Yet in my view from the fortress, those distances were only a few kilometres. (Unfortunately, with the haze, my photo didn’t turn out).

Just as the Citadelle offered an amazing overview of my earlier contact points, so at this time of year we reflect on the big picture of our writing—where we have come from, where we are now, and what our plans are for the rest of the year.

My big picture planning began in late December. I realized that I was working on several different projects. Besides writing monthly for our InScribe Writers Online blog and quarterly for FellowScript, I was writing weekly devotions for my cousin and great-niece and finishing a book-in-progress. I was also adding chapters to several future books.

But how could I organize and co-ordinate writing for all these interrelated projects? Initially, I listed the next steps of each possible work-in-progress—a publishing plan. This gave me the clarity I so needed.

How has my work progressed? And how is God leading and guiding me?

In late June, I finished studying through the Bible and began again in Genesis. This time, I resolved to write faith-based devotions based on the chapters I’m reading. My day usually begins early, spending valuable time with the Lord in in-depth Bible studies. As He illuminates insights and understanding, He gives me story ideas and a devotional slant to help my readers recognize the great treasure they have in the Lord and in their Christian faith.

The Lord has impressed on me the need for concerted prayer and planning each morning as to which article to draft and/or polish. (Sometimes I forget to pray—and my writing doesn’t go so well.)

Normally late spring through summer is my least productive writing season, as it’s filled with outdoor activities, gardening, travel, get-togethers, etc. This year, however, with clarity, I’ve been able to continue with more writing than usual. It helps when on sunny days on my walks, I take my cell phone, sit at a picnic table and draft an idea, to be polished later.

What does my writing life look like in the months ahead?

As late summer turns into autumn and then winter, I hope to give more time to write:

Hopefully (and prayerfully) completing my first book: Divine Encounters: 21 Stories of God’s Miraculous Ways. It is ready to be formatted.

Continued writing on future books, primarily the next one.

Experimenting with Flash Nonfiction articles. In her July blog post, Sharon Heagy described different types of flash fiction, with some as short as six words. Her ideas prompted me to experiment with flash nonfiction of 100 words or fewer, capturing one moment without background and context, and completing it with a universal and perhaps surprising principle.

*

In Genesis 13, God told Abraham to walk through the whole land to get a big-picture view of what God was promising him, and to claim it as his own. God is giving me the privilege of walking through those future books to clearly define them, visualizing them as completed works.

He’s also calling me to work diligently. “Therefore…be steadfast…always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58 CSB).

Sandi Somers writes from Calgary, Alberta, the delightful city between the Rocky Mountains and the Prairies, where she enjoys God’s beauty when walking and driving in nature, reading, gardening in season, and connecting with extended family and friends.