More than....? by Janey Clamp
It doesn't take much to spark off a train of thought that may lead to something I later write about. Not long ago I found myself musing all day about the fact that I thought the elastic was going in my pyjama trousers. It played on my mind all day until, at 4.30pm - that dead hour before the dinner needs to be started - I wrote it all down in a light-hearted blog. So it is that this blog today has been provoked by the very title I read every morning on the ACW website: More than Writers.
This phrase has been going round in my head in two different ways. First, it has strong overtones of Paul's famous exhortation in Romans 8:37 that we are more than conquerors. I have a Marmite sort of relationship with this verse. When I love it, it's because it lifts my spirits in those times when life presses hard and I need the reminder that God is the one - the only One - who can not only fight for me but stand alongside me when I'm in the midst of the action. When I hate it, it's because Christians seem adept at using this verse as a weapon against their already battle-weary brother or sister. Take the example of my former pastor's wife who berated me over not going to a prayer meeting because I had a kidney infection (one of the ouchy, hot-browed kind). Didn't I know I was more than a conqueror? she barked. Didn't she know anything about caring, never mind overcoming?
The other way that the MtW slogan has got under my skin is because I am more than a writer, but my heart's desire is to be only a writer! I am writing this blog during the heat of NaNoWriMo, a month where I have been busier than ever with work and family commitments and a whole host of other random pressures. Goodness me, if I were "only" a writer, I would be knocking out those words like bubbles from a kiddy's toy. 1667 words per day? Pah! Child's play! As is it, a typical day has been to start from near exhaustion, then embarking on eight hours of hard slog decorating a barn conversion followed by dashing home, showering, giving a couple of piano lessons, remembering to eat (if I'd remembered to shop..) then expecting my completely foggy brain to come up with scintillating action-packed story lines which my weary fingers have to bash out.
All that aside, life is what it is, of course, with its silly seasons and simpler seasons; its times of great inspiration and times of creative drought. And, do you know? I'm grateful for all that. I really am. God is shaping my life; He's not done with me yet. So I plough on, determined to conquer each daily challenge and to know that, yes, I am more than a writer. I'm a precious child of God, and that makes me a winner any day.
This phrase has been going round in my head in two different ways. First, it has strong overtones of Paul's famous exhortation in Romans 8:37 that we are more than conquerors. I have a Marmite sort of relationship with this verse. When I love it, it's because it lifts my spirits in those times when life presses hard and I need the reminder that God is the one - the only One - who can not only fight for me but stand alongside me when I'm in the midst of the action. When I hate it, it's because Christians seem adept at using this verse as a weapon against their already battle-weary brother or sister. Take the example of my former pastor's wife who berated me over not going to a prayer meeting because I had a kidney infection (one of the ouchy, hot-browed kind). Didn't I know I was more than a conqueror? she barked. Didn't she know anything about caring, never mind overcoming?
The other way that the MtW slogan has got under my skin is because I am more than a writer, but my heart's desire is to be only a writer! I am writing this blog during the heat of NaNoWriMo, a month where I have been busier than ever with work and family commitments and a whole host of other random pressures. Goodness me, if I were "only" a writer, I would be knocking out those words like bubbles from a kiddy's toy. 1667 words per day? Pah! Child's play! As is it, a typical day has been to start from near exhaustion, then embarking on eight hours of hard slog decorating a barn conversion followed by dashing home, showering, giving a couple of piano lessons, remembering to eat (if I'd remembered to shop..) then expecting my completely foggy brain to come up with scintillating action-packed story lines which my weary fingers have to bash out.
All that aside, life is what it is, of course, with its silly seasons and simpler seasons; its times of great inspiration and times of creative drought. And, do you know? I'm grateful for all that. I really am. God is shaping my life; He's not done with me yet. So I plough on, determined to conquer each daily challenge and to know that, yes, I am more than a writer. I'm a precious child of God, and that makes me a winner any day.
Very well said Janey. We are more than just writers. Life has a way of encroaching and yet we still write. We do still bash out the words on those keys.
ReplyDeleteI can really relate to your blog, Janey. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYep: I am a lot more - housekeeper, cat carer, gardener, shopper, pray-er, cleaner, friend, mum (of adults but still a mum), wife (yep that takes time - and not in the silly obvious way you are thinking), oh yes, and I am a painter and sometimes the 'artist in me' is equally frustrated as the writer - possibly more so ... :-)
ReplyDeleteAfter a bit of a battle for 9 years, I have come to see myself as someone with a very full life who sometimes gets time to use all that fullness in writing. When I've just been too busy to get any writing done, I try to think of it as time spent accumulating more life experience which will make my writing deeper, truer and give me more reader-empathy. Well it helps (a bit) when I feel like screaming . . .
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I have wondered what I thought about the title and now have lots more food for thought! As someone who is at the "beginning" of writing I often feel like can I "even" be a writer. Carving out enough time to use the word "writer" feels beyond me! Thanks for that really helpful comment Fran, I think that's a great way to look at it.
ReplyDelete