More than Writers

Hey. You there. Feeling overwhelmed; weighed down. This is for you.  I know that you're so, so tired.  I know that you've got static in your head right now; thoughts going round and round and I know that it's all jumbled up and confused and you've given up trying to make sense of things. I know that you feel that everything is going wrong and that you're further than ever from where you want to be. I know that you're exhausted trying to keep up with your racing thoughts as you struggle to work out what to do next; what to say, where to go, what to think, what your next move should be.  I have a message for you.  You're not on your own. I know what you're going through and I am right there with you, even in the dark. I never lose my way, and I will not allow you to be lost either, because you are my beloved child.  '...even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you....

At the writers' weekend at Scargill this year we had the opportunity to write a parable. A narrative that held a deeper meaning; one that could be read on different levels, allowing the reader to pull out truths as they saw them, embedded in story. Here's my attempt: This afternoon I went for a walk with an old friend. We haven't spent time together for quite a while - I'm not sure why. He's always good company but I've kind of got into the habit of walking with other people, or even just by myself. That's when there's time for things like that at all, of course; everything is such a rush these days!  Anyway, my friend seemed a little surprised to be asked but as soon as he heard my voice he was full of enthusiasm. So delighted was he to hear from me that my pleasure was tinged with a little guilt, if I'm honest. Anyway, we went for a stroll on a beautiful sunny summer's day. It was very pleasant. We chatted about this and that - or at leas...

I have been on a steep but fun learning curve since I started my blog Praise through Trials in May 2018.The posts on the More than Writers blog have been an invaluable source of wisdom and I have tried with varying degrees of success to implement a lot of the advice given. I thought I would share some of the strategies I have used and my confessions about how it has gone: 1) Write whenever I feel inspired on any device or paper handy. Overall this strategy has worked well for me except for the one time when I was inspired whilst trying to go to sleep; I ended up writing on my phone in bed for 90 minutes which unfortunately led to repetitive strain injury. In the morning my husband was a little shocked and with a raised eyebrow said that he wasn’t surprised I had hurt myself! He suggested that next time I use the computer. Good advice but I don't tend to know how long I will write for when I start and I find it easy to get carried away... 2) Create a bank of material befo...

Sunset over a field of barley I am watching the summer sun set over a field of barley. As the sun sinks towards the horizon, surely and steadily, I wonder how long it will take to set.  In the end, it takes four minutes for the glowing, coral-red orb to graze the top of the horizon and then sink beneath the curvature of the earth, leaving a chink of golden light before disappearing.  (Of course what I am actually seeing is not the sun setting, but the planet turning.  The sun hasn’t gone anywhere - it’s the earth that’s moved, the earth is always moving, and its axial rotation is fast: 1,000 miles every hour.) I love the sun: our beautiful yellow star, an average size compared to other stars, but the source and giver of life on this beautiful blue world on which we all live. Today is 6 th  August, the 70 th  anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, when man harnessed the power of the sun to terrible effect. ...

This is the message I have been getting from Jesus regarding my writing activities recently, and maybe you will benefit from hearing it too. Your circumstances could be very different to mine, the challenges and problems you face in your writing will be different, and so your interpretation of Jesus’ encouragement will be your own. But Jesus does say “don’t give up”, and each of us has the task of interpreting that message for ourselves. We need that encouragement because we will all have moments when we feel that our writing and marketing our writing feels like a long weary battle. What to write? Who cares enough to read it? Is it good enough? So the questions come. Writing is a hard, exposing business, but Jesus says “don’t give up”. Sometimes we need to step back and rest, look after ourselves, and let God look after us. As a friend of mine said of the Christian life “you can retreat but you can’t quit”. Sometimes the problem is that we don’t know how to retreat, and so we car...