What does our writing reveal of us? By Claire Musters

Photo by Miriam Espacio from Pexels

I recently attended my grandmother’s funeral, partly for my mum’s sake as she is now housebound so was unable to go to her own mum’s funeral. What saddened me most was seeing how few people were there; just me, my sister, cousins, aunt and uncle. No friends. Now that could have been due to her age, as she was 95, but deep down I knew it wasn’t. She hadn’t really had many friends, and had been a difficult character for as long as I can remember.

I think some of us were there more out of duty, and love for our parents, than because of our fond memories of her. The stark lack of people revealed much about her character, sadly…

At the start of this week I was reading Acts 6:8, where Stephen is described as a man full of God’s grace and power. It made me think: how would people describe me? I contacted the book group that I run and suggested each one of us humbly ask God what he would say about us – and accept the encouragement but also possibly the challenge about areas of our characters that still need work.

Both those things have stayed with me, and made me ponder this week about how much our words reflect who we are as people. Speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus said: ‘the mouth speaks what the heart is full of’ (Matthew 12:34). Of course, he was referring to our spoken words and I can see in my own life when what I say truly shines a light on what is going on in my heart (and sometimes it really isn’t pretty!).

But to follow this train of thought a little further; does the writing that we do reveal who we are? I know, for myself as a non-fiction writer, I often write about issues that I’m wrestling with in my own life. I’ve written about authenticity, disappointment, parenting, marriage and lament in recent years, and have been asked to write on grief just at a time when I am facing it personally.

Certainly, the book my husband and I are currently writing on marriage has caused me to look deep within myself and see some of the ugly parts that perhaps I hadn’t even recognised before. It is both a deeply painful and hugely rewarding process, and I know God is using it for my own spiritual formation.

I have heard from some fiction writers that often characters they create either have parts of themselves or other people in their lives wrapped up in them. However, with fiction, you also have the opportunity to create characters who might be the complete antithesis of you, and may behave in ways you would never dream of. That’s the beauty of fiction!

Even so, I do wonder, whatever type of writing we do, how much of our inner selves are revealed as we write. For example, what sort of picture will people have of us as authors when they read our books? Should we consider that while engaged in the writing process, or would that be too much of a distraction? I’d love to hear what you think…

Claire is a freelance writer, speaker and editor, mum to two gorgeous children, pastor’s wife, worship leader and school governor. Her books include Taking off the mask: daring to be the person God created you to be, Cover to Cover: Ezekiel A prophet for all times, Cover to Cover: 1–3 John Walking in the truth, Cover to Cover: David: A man after God's own heart, Insight Into Managing Conflict, Insight Into Self-acceptance and Insight Into Burnout. Her latest edition to the Insight Guides series, An Insight into Shame, was published in May and she is currently writing another Cover to Cover on Exodus as well as a book on marriage alongside her husband. She also writes Bible study notes and magazine articles. To find out more about her, please visit www.clairemusters.com  – you can also follow her @CMusters (Twitter) and ClaireMustersWriter (Facebook).