Posts made in April, 2015

The Need to Find the Time to Write

Posted by on Apr 30, 2015 in Writer's Diary

First and foremost, isn’t that title ghastly? As soon as I thought of it, I had to use it, because I loathed it. Now, moving forward, I share the below not for pity but for joy. For hope. The day you are reading this, you may find yourself where I was yesterday, and this may be the very thing you need to encourage you. That is why I share it, to remind you that the overcast sky will give way to sunlight again.

As of today, I seem to be exiting a very real season of trial. Granted, I can’t see the future, and I have no guarantees that things will suddenly become altogether easy tomorrow, but I have “that feeling”. You know the one. It’s the feeling you get when you lift your face toward the sun after an overcast week, when the heat rests on your face and seems to heal it. Right now I just feel the rays shining through the clouds.

Learn More

On The Costs of Writing

Posted by on Apr 17, 2015 in Writing As Worship

Writing is work. Good writing takes effort. Great writing is difficult.

And it has a price.

Now obviously the first cost consideration is time. The clock does not stop while one’s fingers rush across the keypad. On the contrary, the minutes seem to pass all too quickly; writing rips time from the author’s grasp. While an author intends to sit for a 60-minute session before doing x,y, or z, he finds himself three hours later wondering just what happened to his afternoon or evening. He lost track of it, of course; and it was the rhythms of his work that made him do so.

Learn More

Sanctifcation and a Writer’s Revising

Posted by on Apr 3, 2015 in Writing As Worship

Sanctification is one of the most beautiful processes of the human experience. In his own time and through his own way, the Lord molds and shapes his children more into the likeness of Christ, changing beliefs and behaviors to better echoes the divine through a greater view of God, others, and self. This process may be through external trial engaging the world around us or internal conflict against our stubborn nature.

For some this process is incredibly visible–they go from hot-tempered, obscene, violent, or lecherous to patient, gentle, kind, and self-controlled. For others the process is more subtle. Their bitterness or prejudice dissipates; the arrogance of their heart softens; they find new joy regardless of environment. Smaller cues like withheld asides or offered praise provide a hint of deep transformation, though somewhat hidden. Through incremental and, often, incredibly slow changes of mind, heart, and soul, a person consistently but gradually better reflects his Savior, Jesus.

Learn More