After a fourteen-month break and a gracious God willing, I’m about to duck my head back under a stack of books and commentaries and drain a heap of ink cartridges dry as I peck, type, and tap my fingernails on my desk toward another Bible study. When I was 30 years old, the thought of the first one never occurred to me. After that one was finished and originally placed on a shelf, I didn’t imagine a second one.
It’s not that writing had never crossed my mind. I’ve been obsessed with the feel of a pencil sliding across a page since my earliest memories. My young childhood years were spent on a hill in Arkadelphia, Arkansas in a small house splitting at the seams with eight people and tickled in the ribs by pine needles. I must have swung a thousand miles on the stuffed burlap bag my dad hung by a rope from an oak’s flexing bicep. I’d twist the rope as tightly as I could then hop on the bag and twirl around in dizzying circles with my head reared back, rope unwinding, and hair flying. And life has gone by pretty much like that ever since.
Because my maternal grandmother lived with us, my mom wasn’t obliged to stuff all of us kids in the station wagon every time she went to the grocery store. On occasion, however, I’d beg to go with her and she’d let me. There was a little gray plastic horse with a red saddle and loose brown rein that I’d befriended at the auspicious entrance to the Piggly Wiggly. Most of the time, I’d stay perched right there on his rigid back until the checker dug herself out from under an avalanche of groceries, can by can. A child was safer to let go of her mother’s skirt in those days. While she was inside fetching buttermilk, pork ‘n beans, and light bread, I was outside hugging that plastic horse so fiercely that sometimes flecks of chipped paint would stick to my arms and legs until my next scrubbing. That would occur the next Saturday night.
We, of course, were forced to bathe or shower every day and we often did so two by two, rather like a reverse Noah’s Ark. The youngest of five girls in the house, I might get thrown in with anyone from six years old to seventy-five. A disembodied voice would yell, Can I throw Bethy in there? Then the next thing I knew, a hand would appear ex nihilo and snatch me through the heavy veil. But there was a fearsome thing in our household called “the Saturday bath.” You didn’t come out of that one unscathed.
What skin you had left when it was over was usually exfoliated by the brisk drying off. It was something akin to the flaps in a car wash. The other six days a week I don’t even recall dry-before-dressed being a top priority but, come Saturday night, cleaning was a near killing. The water, however, was only phase one of the ritual. We girls then sat in a row at my mother’s feet while she pin-curled our hair so tight our eyes would turn to slits. All this was so that we’d look fancy for church the next morning. She also pin curled Nanny’s hair and had done so for years. That Nanny only had about 73 hairs left on her whole head was no wonder to me. I often pictured waking up on Sunday morning, crawling out of bed, and the pin curls remaining right there on the pillowcase completely intact, broken off at the roots.
Years passed before I realized that the horse outside the Piggly Wiggly would have rocked back and forth for the better part of a minute if somebody rolled a nickel into it. My mom could still laugh herself into a coughing fit about that very thing till the year she died. That old stiff beast wasn’t my only motivation anyway. I also hitched a ride for the Big Chief Tablet. If my four siblings and I hadn’t frazzled Mom down to her last nerve and pitched her into an absolutely not, I could usually harass one out of her with incessant incantations of pretty-pretty-please. There could also be measurable success if we kids had managed to break her will. You had to play it just right since she was like most moms. Sometimes you didn’t know if it was resignation or rage until you were decidedly sorry you’d asked. However I attained it, as soon as I had that tablet in hand and back home on the hill, I’d snatch a pencil from the kitchen drawer, sharpen it, and scribble for hours until every single line was filled on every last page.
Five and six years old, I wrote fastidiously in my own brand of cursive. Mind you, I hardly knew how to spell a word with basic print, let alone write in cursive but how could any literature be taken seriously in disjointed characters? So, I made up my own script, big on curlicues, loop de loops, ocean waves and dolphin fins. This was not the stuff of Christian books penned with a fury there in the dark red shadow of the Big Chief. My books were more inclined toward elementary romance novels. They involved characters like Little Joe Cartwright on Bonanza and probably me, and Barbie’s dark-plastic-brown-headed Ken and probably me, and a host of doll babies or trolls and probably me. I would stare off into space a little while, mutter and ponder, then throw my head down dramatically and scribble for all I was worth.
Writing came easier back then.
As I grew up, my interests widened. I loved English and social studies and student government. I eventually got my undergraduate degree in political science with thoughts of going on to law school and threw in a teacher’s certificate to boot but, with any musing time at all, I still scribbled and doodled on every bare inch of paper. My official writing days were now long behind me, leaving soirees with Big Chiefs in a smattering of dust. I’m not sure when it first hit me that I might write a Christian book but, even then, those pages were scribbled out of a romance – the most enduring one I’ve ever had – and not without copious curlicues and loop de loops.
I’ve never mastered writing. I read the works of others and say with much admiration, now that’s a real writer. But this many excursions in, I am no longer naïve about what these many months ahead are going to take. So, I’m steadying myself, taking a deep breath, and whispering underneath it, “Well, here we go again” and all with that inseparable mixture of stomach-churning dread and it’s-great-to-be-back hope. This is what I love. And this is what I sometimes hate. Well, that’s not true. Hate is too strong a word but on occasion it does occur to me that there are work-lives that could be substantially less stressful and less dependent on an endless list of variables like mood, atmosphere, weather, relative-quietness-versus-too-much-quietness where you can hear the clock ticking louder and louder until it sounds like an ear-splitting gong in a torture chamber. Under most circumstances, you need just the right inspiration for just the right amount of time, not to mention exactly enough pain to stir up some passion but not so much that you consider killing yourself. Or at least seriously. And that’s another thing. You have to read and reread any whimsical sentence you write for fear that someone will take what you said too seriously and pass a kidney stone over it.
Writing can be a hard, grueling profession. It has moments of beauty, mystery, and emotion so strong that you can’t see the screen but, nipping at their very heels are harassing fears that you might not have another. That you’ve started a book you can’t finish. And worse yet, you told someone you’re writing a book and now it appears that the devil could die of frostbite before you can construct another intelligible sentence.
I feel this strange sensation of dread and hope every time I start to write something of any length but only in the last few journeys have I thought intently about you. About you new writers, you lovers of words, stirred of heart and mind to lasso your swirling thoughts onto a page, let them be still, and wonder if anyone on earth will care to actually read them. And, if they do, will they ridicule them? I think of you now because of the groundswell of obstacles that have emerged out of a giant social earthquake. A dazzling mountain range has jumped in the path between the first word of every decent book and its last. Its lung-searing climb, its slippery summit, and harrowing descent are woefully beyond the muscle of the weak-willed.
Many of you are young enough to know no other writing world but this one. Others of us have been around long enough to recognize the glaring climate changes. A dyed-in-the-wool sanguine, I feed off a social frenzy with all the patience of a crackhead just like other people-persons do. I love it. I crave it. I’m just saying it’s next to impossible to actually eek out a decent book in the batting eye of it. Long-term writing has always been difficult but these present winds, they are a-blowin’, and those of us who insist on keeping every window wide open will have our pens whipped into knots and our floors swept by swooshes of blank pages.
Because one thing will never change.
A decent piece of writing demands concentration.
It’s hard – not impossible but hard – to bring it to completion with a semblance of originality and, Lord, help us, anointing amid the constant cacophony. Amid unhindered choruses of…
Oh, for a thousand texts to ping.
Or
There’s a tweet, tweet spirit in this place.
Others are more qualified to speak to this than I. Obviously, I’m just putting off the first sentence of a project with one last rabbit-chase. I have no great word on lasting penmanship in a frenetic climate. My take on the subject comes from my own subjective experience and perspective. For that handful of you who have hung on this long, however, I’m going to throw a few things on the counter that I have learned along the way (true to frustrating form, the hard way). This is why: because I believe in you young writers and in you not-so-young-but-new writers. I see great men and women of God out there with things to say that need to be documented into a format with a shelf life longer than an iPhone upgrade. So, here goes.
Writing a book will be harder than you think and take longer than you want.
You very often will lose passion for the project somewhere in the middle of it and even sprint mentally in a mad blaze toward a new direction and new title. Expect it. It’s completely normal and, on occasion, projects really do need to be abandoned. Maybe God’s just not in it. Maybe it was better off as a blog post or a thought-worthy entry on Tumblr. Maybe we didn’t think it through and mistook it for a long-term project. It just wasn’t the right direction. We miss it sometimes. But, more often, the maddening ebb is part of the writing process that you must work and pray and cry and press through until the fire returns because, if you don’t? Well, if you don’t, you will start fifteen books and finish none of them. And, if you do, your blaze for the project will often boomerang with a satisfaction that plunges all the deeper because you fought the demon and won. In the immutable words of Hebrews 10:36, you need to persevere.
You have to factor in more than writing time. Decent writing requires much more time than it takes to actually type the sentences. Decent writing requires thinking and spinning and mulling and living and watching and listening and experiencing and reaching. These bring the strokes to the page that turn the transfer of information into true connection.
Limitless opportunities have come with the global blast of information and communication. What believer couldn’t entertain the notion that God may have foreordained all this access for the purpose of Gospel wall-leaping? It’s a gorgeous thing. But omnipresence is a burden only God can bear. Insisting on being ten places at once for twenty hours a day for weeks on end will ultimately make aloneness almost intolerable. Thankfully, that doesn’t mean we’ll never hear from God since He can well reveal Himself in corporate contexts. It just means that we will less likely sense what He’s trying to communicate to us personally and use us to communicate to someone else. The Biblical art of meditating can turn a parched cistern into a fountainhead.
I meditate on all You have done; I ponder the work of Your hands. I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Psalm 143:5-6
Turn to the psalmists and trace with your fingertips the times they talk about meditating on God and His precepts, His ways, His acts, and the human condition with and without Him. Study the contexts. See the results. The loss of such an art may be gradual but make no mistake. It will also be incalculable.
The NIV translates Jesus’ words in John 12:49 in terms that stand up on the page like a pop-up book for any believer hoping to communicate.
For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.
Only Jesus is capable of speaking solely what the Father has commanded but a concept dripping from it like honey is enough to wet the tongue of the driest human mouth: Communicating is not only about what to say. It’s about how to say it.
That takes pondering. And pondering takes time. The word “Godspeed” may be the most overlooked oxymoron in the English language. He rarely does. Speed, I mean.
Panic only exacerbates inevitable waves of writer’s block. I don’t care how elementary and predictable this piece of advice is going to sound. When it happens – and it will – get up from your desk, down on the floor, tell God your struggle and pray for Him to move you past the block. Then, as you get up from the floor, thank Him for His kindness and mercy and complete dependability. The block may pass right away. It may not pass until the next day. Or week. Or month. But, if the project is from God, the boulder will most definitely tumble from the path and, when it does, you’ll know who kicked it. Appropriately, God wants us to credit Him with every victory. Hasten to it.
Do the work. Study. Prepare. Don’t have all of your research done by someone else. The discovery itself is often the gift.
God will most often take the message we’re writing and prove us genuine by hammering the themes relentlessly on the anvil of our souls. Does it say anything that I had to type the word “anvil” very slowly to keep from writing “advil”? Knowing how much time to allow on the manuscript due-date for a holy hammering is hard to navigate but, whenever it’s finished, it will be ten times the untested version. Oh, I know, I know. We all hope we’ve already lived the process in advance which is why we feel qualified to speak to it in book form but, from my experience, that’s a sweet dream. If we sow to our flesh we’ll reap the flesh. Only if we go to the extra trouble to sow to the Spirit will we reap something of authentic, eternal spiritual value.
Submit to the angst of decent editing. That means we have to let our works and ourselves be critiqued. Criticized. Questioned. Challenged. A good editor can be a solid gold pain in the neck that we oughtn’t to want to trade for all the e-book space in the universe. Think of all we’ve gotten in trouble for saying, then think of all we could have said. Lord, help me. An editorial cut can sometimes swerve you right out of the path of a flatbed trailer full of fertilizer. If we don’t trust our editor enough to give us some pretty solid advice, we really do need to seek a new one. Some statements are well worth fighting for and it can come down to finding a different way to say them. Other times authors might get their way with an editorial disclaimer we shouldn’t take lightly: “Ok, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” A number of statements along the way have been worth some controversy to me but some of the things that have hurled me into the hottest water weren’t even important to me. Many words, much folly.
Perfectionism will snuff the flame. Period. Give it up. It’s cheating us out of hearing your genuine voice.
These are a few reasons why we may never read books by some of the greatest writers on the planet. Some are too narcissistic to take the criticism, too undisciplined to see it through the dry spells, or too committed to greatness to settle for publishing something good.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. We don’t have to strive for fabulous. Purely doing some good can be really great.
Just one more.
Don’t just think twice before you sign a multi-book contract. Think fifty times. Resist it at all costs (see below) unless God writes a go across the sky. As tempting as the sight may be, God may not spell go like this:
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
God can lead His children any way He pleases. You could flourish under conditions that I find crushing. But, for me, there’s nothing like the pressure to write that leaves me with fewer things to say. God is all-powerful, compassionate, mysterious, and sometimes almost humorous. He freely admits to the enjoyment of showing the wise foolish and the foolish wise. He can do anything He wants any way He wants but, as a general rule, holy passion is a better guide than human pressure. It is dangerous to sign contracts for unwritten books. And taking money for them can burn a hole right through the lining of your stomach.
So. I guess I’ve put off the process long enough and will go get to it. Maybe all this rambling was just a reminder to me. Thanks for giving me the space to hash it out.
Ecclesiastes 12:12 says, Of making many books there is no end.
And I – more reader than writer – for one am glad.
Write on, sister or brother. Don’t wait for a publisher or a book deal. A true writer has to write even with no one to read. Scribble down rogue phrases and incomplete sentences as they come whether or not they seem strung together. Write on the backs of sales receipts or the palm of your other hand. Just write! That book is in there somewhere.
If it seems slow, wait for it. (Habakkuk 2:3)
And when it comes, may God speak.
Thank you! Like so many others, I write a blog and dream of writing a book – I praise God for leading me to this article today. You are a gift and an inspiration. I love the part about writing on receipts and the back of my hand and post its and napkins – I do that!! 🙂 I teared up at the end because I have a difficult time waiting and I know God is telling me to wait for the right time for Him to speak and not to push my own agenda. Thank you for sharing so honestly and beautifully.
Funny I started writing a book this summer. I haven’t touched it for months now. I some times feel like I don’t have any thing worthy of someone else reading. But I’ve been told in the past that I need to write about my life with God. You have inspired once again Mrs. Moore, thank you so much. God bless.
Thank you God for an answered prayer! Beth thank you for following His leading! Something I have prayed about to see what God would have me do. My words, mainly poetry, come to encourage my journey with God or those around me in specific situations. People have said how much it means to them but I want it to be for God and His Glory. Please pray for me as I work on this part of the journey God has for me. Again, thank you Beth. I love you!
God bless you, Beth. We eat your work and chew and chew and share it with others. Your dedication is amazing. Invaluable!
patti.
Beth,
So happy to hear that you’re writing again! I know, whatever it is you’re working on, I am going to be so blessed by the final product! Can’t wait!
By the way, I also had a favorite little horse at the Piggly Wiggly where my mama shopped for groceries each week. It was located right by the front door of the store. I would hop into the saddle while Mama did her shopping (yes, it was a different world back then), and wait. It wouldn’t take 5 minutes before some customer would walk by, see the cute little girl sitting on the horse, and say, “Would you like to ride?” They’d put a dime in the slot, and off I’d go. I usually managed to get 3 or 4 rides before Mama got to the check-out line. Thanks for bringing up a fun, happy memory!
Beth… My sister-in-law sent this to me. I am in the middle of my dissertation phase enduring the red slashes of my chair’s track changes. Will I ever finish what I began? Has crossed my mind a thousand times. I read your writer ramblings because Kathy sent it, my morning diversion before I work again on yet another round of edits. Thanks for the encouraging words. I am not a new write by any means, but an unknown writer. I write every day no matter what, living in the want of just one to read and be blessed. With one word of encouragement the fire within burns all the more. Kathy’s email and your words of encouragement to the unknown newbies of the writing world are just the flame I need to press on. Blessings, tara
Beth,
I have been writing for a couple of years now. It seems so hard to break in. I magazine article here, blog post there. . , you know the drill.
I think I have a story that needs to be told. I would rather not, as I feel like Moses saying, “Who me?”
Yet, I think I have been called. So I tell my story. I am hoping to become a speaker and writer. Finding the time with four daughters is hard though. Even when I get up at 5 in the morning, the littlest ones seem to have “mommy radar” and come pit-patting into where I am.
I think God has plans, they are just taking longer than I had hoped. All in His timing.
Holly
I PRAISE you almighty God, my Father thank you for answering my heart that struggled so much last night about your direction for me. You are so kind and faithful.
Beth if you only knew my struggle these last few weeks with words from my heart to put down on paper. This posting is God ordained. Thank you Beth…… you have encouraged this girl.
God Bless
Dear Beth, I have just recently began my “public” writing journey. I have many journals of rambled thoughts, but having a daughter so late in age has made me realize that I need her to know me. Therefore I started blogging. I am enjoying it very much. I owe so much to you these past few months, as your bible studies have been life changing. I completely James this summer and now nearing the end of God’s Dwelling place and finishing up reading your Breaking Free book. I look forward to doing Daniel soon, and will definetly work my way through ALL of your studies! I enjoy them so much and GOD speaks to me in every word you write! THANK YOU!
Thank you Beth! I loved reading this. I do write on a blog, and at times, writing a book has seemed fascinating and daunting. And although I have not started a book, and I may never, (at least, not this season in life…. 5 kids 6+ under!) I do so much enjoy writing. Thank you for your words of wisdom and encouragement. I too, look forward to your new Bible study. You are one of my favorites! (I’m currently reading ‘Feathers from my Nest’…. sheesh! I’ve laughed, I’ve cried, I’ve laughed some more! It’s done my ‘mother’s heart’ good! Thank you!) Blessings to you and many prayers as you start a new study!
Beth,
Thank you! And many blessings as you write! I can’t wait to do the study! we are doing your deut study now. we study with other authors, as well, but always have to come back to one of yours because me and the girls miss you!
Bless you sweet Beth!
Kimberly
Beth, I thank God for you. God has drawn me closer to Him because of you. I could write many many pages to try to express how much God has taught me because of you. I often think I would love to run into you somewhere and just tell you thank you face-to-face. God pens the words you write. You submit to His authority and do this hard thing, and I reap the benefit. It feels selfish of me. I laugh with you and cry with you. I admire the fact that you have the courage to be real with us. You have helped me have courage as well. I will be praying for you fervently.
Love you,
~Dana
Thanks for the the words of wisdom and encouragement. They are much appreciated in a time of writers block.
Rose
Oh, how I needed to hear this. I am a writer by trade, but a technical writer for software companies. While grateful for the work, it doesn’t satisfy my lifelong desire (since 3rd grade) to write a book. Like you said, Beth – I’ve started a dozen books and never finished them. The one I’ve been working on the past 5 years feels like “the one.” But 2 kids and life keeps getting in the way. Thank you for the encouraging words, as always, and for getting me off my rump to actually finish what I feel certain God started in me. Good luck with your new study. I can’t wait to be a part of it.
I needed to hear this. <3
Lovely. Helpful. Thank you. Will be praying.
Oh, how sweet His goodness. Thank you for pressing on and for writing and for sharing from your heart…love your passion and determination. Inspiring and challenging and encouraging. Grateful for His beautiful use of you!
Thank you Beth. I needed that kick in the pants to say “get back up to that desk and keep writing!”. I wish that I loved every second of the experience–I don’t. I’m a wannabe novelist who has no idea whether the characters I’ve slaved over so intensely will ever be seen and loved by anyone except myself. It’s a lonely, hard road at times, especially when it seems that nothing is working.
So thank you for reminding me that it isn’t always easy. If it were, everyone would do it.
Beth!
I feel the same way. I’ve been obsessed with words filling pages since I was seven. When I got my first journal, I didn’t know if I should keep the pages white and crisp or fill them with every senseless thought….I filled the journal and several more since then.
Last year I mailed you a copy of my manuscript, at the time it was titled, I Call Him By Name, and has been renamed Mama Needs A Time. I was thrilled to receive the encouragement to keep writing and pursue my dreams. This past May, my book was picked up by Books & Such in partnership with eChristian and Mama Needs A Time Out was released for mother’s day. I thumb through the pages and am still shocked to see my name on the book, yet as I review what I wrote, it blows my socks off–without the holy spirit whispering to me what was on God’s heart, the book would have been complete nonsense. Instead, there’s life within those pages.
Such a treasure! I can actually feel and smell a summer day in a cotton dress in the late 60’s! That was so fun, but I thank you too for the rest of the lesson, so personal and rich in advice and experience. Thank you.
Amazing. Thank you for this. I have been working on various writing projects and have lost interest in them or taken a break. Thinking who am I and who would care to read it anyway. You are always encouraging. Thank you again.
Thank you so much for these words of wisdom! They are exactly what I needed! 🙂
God is amazing! I love to write but have been full of so many excuses not to. Thanks for this post, it spoke to my heart (God has used you to do that more times than I can count). God bless!
So excited about another Bible Study. We are doing James right now. (Learning so much.) At the middle point, I start being concerned about the next Bible Study. Ahhhhh. I can relax. Beth is doing it again! Thank you and may God continue to bless you.
Amazing post and exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you for sharing your heart the Lord has developed for Him through the years. Your willingness to be a vessel for Him is such an inspiration.
Thank you
What? Beth, do you know how often God has used you to speak directly to my situation? I am a writer (of young adult fiction) and am at this very moment working on revising my second book. It’s hard and feels so lonely, and man, is that doggone internet a constant source of temptation! But I pray for God’s guidance and discipline every day. EVERY day. This post was so timely for me, and I thank you for it! Can’t wait to read what you’re writing next!!
I am so thankful for your writing, Beth. I love diving into your Bible studies, as you exude a voracious love for His Word, humility, transparency, and humor, all the while remaining true to Scripture. Over the last six hardest and most painful years of my life, joining together with you in the study and mutual love of His Word, He has carried me through – I cannot make it without Him. It is to our Lord and Savior’s glory, that your writing blesses as it does. Thank you for your dedication, keep up the good work – looking forward to your next one.
Beth, thank you! I appreciate this generous wealth of wisdom. I am completely blown away. I will re-read this advice again and again when I’m pressing with writing concerns. I’m reading this while in the Smoky Mountains on a little vacay with the hubs. It’s nice to see that others are in the same boat as I am as I’m reading through the comments. Thank you for making this public, as it seems so many needed to hear this. I will be praying for God to speak as you journey with Melissa on your next adventure. He is so faithful.
I loved this post! I have loved writing since I was a little girl sitting in my dad’s chair in his office… I wrote stories about dogs on the back of adding machine paper. I loved that because I could roll it like a scroll.
Now, as an adult and being a survivor of domestic violence, I have thought so many times, and even written, what happened during those 7 years. It was so shocking, even to me, because I had never really faced it all head-on. To see it in writing was crazy.
A few years ago, during National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org), the month of November, I wrote a novel which turned out to be pretty good. In the big computer crash a few months later, I lost it all. So, I tried to write it again this year. I liked the new version better, and I made the crazy decision to send it to three of my friends for their opinions. I asked them specific questions, and they sent me back their responses. And I reviewed and revised.
Then, I made the “shocking” decision to send my query to an agent. I didn’t hear anything right away, which I knew would happen, but when she wrote back, it was obvious she wrestled with doing it or not. But she ultimately chose not to work with it. I didn’t let it deter me.
I spent last week revising it again, just in minor ways. Then, I sent it to a Christian publishing company. There was a contract in my email on Sunday!
Of course, I was really shocked. I have been praying about this for most of my life, and one of my goals is to be a published author. This seems like my opportunity! Of course, there is a fee for the in-house agent, or you can get your own. After talking to her, they reduced the fee by half (and you get the money back after selling 1,000 books). What a deal!
I’ll be honest… I’m scared. And I don’t even have the money to start this process, so I continue to pray. And I know that God’s timing is perfect, and that is what I’m trusting in.
I started on the second book in the series with National Novel Writing Month going on right now, and it’s exciting. My characters all have a trace of me in them, and domestic violence is addressed.
I believe that God gives us these things to write, and I will not give up! Thanks so much for these words on this particular day. I needed them as I continue to write…
love you. could you now please write an inspiration for illustrators? 🙂 i’ve had my children’s book written and half-illustrated for about a year now. ugh! its SO close to finished but i… just… can’t… muster… up… the… will… to… finish… lol
This post makes my heart happy! That’s all…… 🙂
God bless your endeavor — sending prayer support! 🙂
I am blown away. What wisdom. Thank you so much for sharing your heart, past experiences, and wisdom. I feel truly encouraged and excited. Thank you.
I will save and treasure this post forever. Thank you for making it long and rich and full of wisdom and heart.
Exactly the words I needed today…tears stinging my eyes as I “begin” the journey…May Jesus be glorified. Bless You!
Beth,
I laughed at the memories of growing up in a house splitting at the seams with family. Not unlike you Beth, I grew up in a house filled with the laughter and spats of six girls. (My sisters, each of whom I dearly love). I remember the baths two at a time (sometimes 3). I also remember loving to write and going to a little creek behind our house to put down my thoughts in a tablet. Wish I had those tablets now. I am looking forward to your new study and praying for God to give you the words to put down on paper. Love the word of God and appreciate everything you put into these studies.
Thanks so much, Beth! Almost exactly a year ago, I scaled back my work as an attorney to part-time, instead of full-time so that I could devote more time to a writing project that God has called me to work on with one of my dear sisters in Christ. Your post was encouraging and so timely for me! We have spent the last year doing nothing but research, and we still feel like we have more study to do before we put pen to paper. Sometimes its hard to explain to others why it’s taking so long, and I have to consciously choose to trust God when faced with their blank (or even worse, skeptical) stares. Incidentally (but not coincidentally), Habakkuk 1:1-3 was one of my memory verses for SSMTC 2011. 🙂 Claiming it again today! Love you!
Thanks Beth, What insight for me, I have been writing my own quotes, sometimes I dream about them, but when I wake up I forget, I enjoy 🙂 During my free time I will keep jotting down my thoughts. 🙂
Tears are flowing. Thank you.
In tears. Thank. You.
This is fantastic! Thank you. I’m new to publishing and signed did your no no of signing a two-book deal. But God is kind and faithful because the second book was already written and sitting on my laptop because I’ve always written whther or not someone might notice (just as you said). Even if I’m the only one reading, I must write because God wired me this way.
Write on, Sister! Thanks for this post.
Thanks so much. I began a project in January and was making progress and then I was sidetracked and have struggled to get back in the flow of it. This post is just the boost I needed to rekindle the flame.
Are you my long lost twin or something? Everything down to the pin curls, grandmother and being scrubbed during your bath until your skin burns!
Well, you couldn’t be my long lost twin because I do have a twin brother. But, maybe one of those kindred spirits we all catch up with at some point or other in life.
Thank you, did I need this today!
I just spent the morning cleaning instead of writing and was feeling guilty until I read your post.
Thanks again, Beth and God bless!
Kelly, funny, just yesterday I posted on FB that cleaning was a form of procrastination. I was cleaning floors, cupboards, bathrooms, etc….. because I just could not sit down to write until I cleaned. This morning, since all was sparkling, I could relax and write. : )
Dear Beth, first of all I would like to thank you for writing this wonderful article/post! As I was in the Medical Field for 25 years, I am now (to my surprise) writing for a living! (Writing is something that I always loved to do.) As with this article, much of your work has been intregal in my healing, and in giving me the strength to walk, and work through the hardest chapter of my life. I have copied your wonderful post, and it will be a permanent fixture on my desk as I continue to write!
God is amazing and he works so beautifully through you! Thank you, Beth!
Another beautiful blog post!! God is definitely speaking to me through you!! I have always been a numbers girl and disliked writing! Loved math and anything to do with numbers and really struggled with Engish and essays!! But for several years now I have had a feeling I should write some of my childhood memories and God lessons I have learned over the years! This just confirmed I should at least try! 🙂
Thanks for bringing me down my own memory lane of growing up in Minnesota and having to ration our water because we had a well! We could only take baths or showers a few times a week and remember my mother telling me to use baby powder to soak up the grease in my hair!!!! I am very thankful every time I take a shower now!! I remember going to the Piggley Wiggley and we also had the Red Owl!! And we would say “Pretty, pretty please WITH sugar on top!”. 🙂
Thank you so much for challenging me to write!! My husband actually bought me an empty journal for my birthday and said it is for me to start writing my book!! I already have the title! Now I just need to write it! I love you Beth and all the LPM bloggers and Siestas!!! What an inspiration you ALL are to me!! Thank You!!
I sure wish I could sit at your feet and learn just a little more from you. I’m praying and writing and waiting. Thanks for the encouragement! I can’t wait to read the next one!
As an author let me say, AMEN and AMEN!!!!
Beth, I know you’re going to come up with something awesome during this time of writing! I’m currently writing my fourth book and I feel ya when you talk about the dry moments. Keep pressing on to the goal. Love ya!
Ciao from Italy, Beth!
Thank you so much for this blog post! It’s amazing how God has used it in my life today to simply encourage me to continue writing. Lately, God has put a desire in my heart to write.
I have just been doing so on my blog, talking mainly about my journey as a missionary in Italy. But it has been a beautiful outlet to be able to pour my heart out on a blank page or through punching the keys on the computer. Any way, thank you for all your encouragement and love for this blogging community and women in general.
I will certainly take all that you said into consideration as I write! Thanks again :]
Melissa