Thursday Thoughts for Writers

March 10, 2016

The Well is Deep {Thursday Thoughts for Writers}

On Thursdays this year, I’ll share thoughts, tips and inspiration for writers. I’m certainly not an expert, but am simply seeking personal encouragement in this art and want to share with anyone who’s also trying to find their way as a writer. These short posts will come from books, articles, the Bible, my own thoughts, and other people. Subscribe in the upper right corner so that you don’t miss a post. If you’re new to the series, find all the posts here. Come meet me in the comments–I’d love to read your thoughts on writing.

Happy writing!

Leslie

The Well is Deep {Thursday Thoughts for Writers}~ Where are you finding your water? In the well of self or the well that is full of Living Water that will never dry up?

I recently picked up my small faux-leather Oswald Chambers devotional again and, like a painting that seems to be gazing at you wherever you are standing, it always has a message for me.

I’ve been trying to write two to three posts a week and so far I haven’t run out of things to say. And yet I’m finding that the problem isn’t always what I say, but where I find my inspiration. In our humanistic society, we are made out to be the source of our own lives. We are meant to be self-sustaining and self-focused. The theme of life is that if we do not find happiness within ourselves, then we are out of luck. So I think our first instinct as writers sculpted by society is to dig into ourselves to find truth.

As a Jesus follower, I would tell you that I don’t agree with this, but as a car with wheels out of alignment eventually begins to swerve off the road, so, too, can I find myself in the ditch as I align with society’s message instead of with my Master Teacher’s.

And so Ozzy’s words on February 27 bore holes in me:

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?” (John 4:11)

“The well is deep–and even a great deal deeper than the Samaritan woman knew…Jesus doesn’t bring anything up from the wells of human nature–He brings them down from above…The impoverishment is in us, not Him…We struggle to reach the bottom of our own well, trying to get water for ourselves…The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look away from yourself and look toward Him.”

Where are you finding your water? In the well of self or the well that is full of Living Water that will never dry up?

As a writer who is also a believer in the creator and sustainer of life, I long for my words to originate from the Source of all life and not merely from myself. I want to draw from that well. And it is encouraging to know that as long as I am drawing my words from the Living Water, the source of my words will never dry up.

“Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you will get neither.”

~C.S. Lewis

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Do you ever have this struggle?

How do you practically stay connected to the source of Living Water as you pursue your calling as a writer? (I’m still working on this one, so I’d love to hear your practical solutions!)

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March 2, 2016

When’s the last time you did something terrifying? {Thursday Thoughts for Writers}

For me, it was last Saturday. Navigating the traffic and unquestioningly following my phone’s female voice through Denver, I pulled in the parking lot. Turning off the ignition, I took a deep breath, straightened my clothes and went inside. My first writing conference.

At least we don’t actually have to write, I thought.

Then they might discover my secret–that I am an amateur who is still struggling to label myself “writer.” The atrium was filled with people who were chatting, rifling through the materials and munching on pastries as I wandered around trying to look busy. Introvert writers are not ones to shoot the breeze with petrified newbies.

This conference was unique in that it was a collection of men and women who were mainly from Colorado who all had one other thing in common: Christ. We were there not only to grow in craft and practice, but in vision.

Having survived the conference (which ended up being very mild on the scale of truly “terrifying” life events), these are three things that greatly impacted my vision as a Christian writer:

1. Give the mundane its “beautiful due”
John Blase began his session with this quote:

“My only duty was to describe reality as it had come to me, to give the mundane its beautiful due.”

~John Updike

He asked each of us in the room the reason why we write and shared about two authors he loves, Kent Haruf and Richard Hugo, who have mastered making the mundane beautiful.

At the end of his session, my worst fears materialized: we actually had to write. He asked us to write for five minutes about a very ordinary topic–our favorite pair of shoes. As the published novelists and authors shared their five minute scribblings, I was astounded by the magnificent words they had crafted in such a short time. One woman somehow connected red shoes with the death of her mother and had us all in tears. It was amazing. Needless to say, I didn’t volunteer, but simply hoped that some of the talent in that room would seep into me.

But it inspired me to see my life through a new lens instead of trying to escape it to find something more fantastical and adventurous.

2. Take a risk
James Rubart led a session called “Stepping Out of the Shadows” where he shared a story about overcoming a personal fear. He challenged us to “flip,” or do the scary thing that we’ve been avoiding doing as way of exercising the freedom from fear and bondage that we have in Christ. He shared the following quote:

“You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.”

~Ray Bradbury

Through the Parable of the Talents, Rubart pointed out that our idea of success is very different from God’s and that God is more likely to ask, “With what you’ve been given, did you try?” This was very much in line with what God has been showing me lately about writing, so I was grateful for more encouragement to keep moving forward as a writer.

3. Don’t write for God or about God, write with God
Allen Arnold led a session about living in the “orphan realm” vs. living in the “freedom realm.” He reminded us that through Christ, God awakens orphans to their true identity to live in freedom.

He also emphasized that the creative process is never meant to be done alone. “If you can do it without God, you’re dreaming too small,” he said. He emphasized that the writer has the privilege of co-creating with God as we write the story we’re living.

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I drove the hour home Saturday in silence, soaking the truth, absorbing the words that had been spoken audibly and inaudibly to my soul all day. Peace. Joy. Holy motivation.

Permission. The thing I most needed and need every day so far as a writer. Permission to write. Reminders that this is good. That God is smiling. That we are in this together.

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What terrifying thing are you avoiding doing?

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Linking up with Coffee for Your Heart and Literacy Musing Mondays

On Thursdays this year, I’ll share thoughts, tips and inspiration for writers. I’m certainly not an expert, but am simply seeking personal encouragement in this art and want to share with anyone who’s also trying to find their way as a writer. These short posts will come from books, articles, the Bible, my own thoughts, and other people. Check back each week or subscribe for new posts. Please introduce yourself in the comments–I’d love to meet you and hear about your thoughts on writing.

Happy writing!

Leslie

February 25, 2016

10 Quotes for Writers {Thursday Thoughts for Writers}

All of the following quotes are from a book called Off the Page, edited by Carole Burns, that I apparently picked up from a college bookstore textbook section once upon a time. Below are ten of my favorite quotes I pulled from this book, all from the chapter entitled “Words of Wisdom: What Writers Wish Someone Had Told Them.” The full quote is in the text and some of the graphics have shortened versions that you are welcome to pass along to others. I hope they inspire you in your journey as a writer this week.

1. “Read and write and read and write and read and write, on and on and on. That’s essentially it.” ~Edward P. Jones

10 Quotes~ Thursday Thoughts for Writers

2. “I don’t teach writing. I teach patience. Toughness. Stubbornness. The willingness to fail. I teach the life.” ~Richard Bausch

3. “Read everything, write all the time. And if you can do anything else that gives you equal pleasure and allows you to sleep soundly at night, do that instead. The writing life is an odd one, to say the least.” ~Alice McDermott

4. “Put in the groundwork, write your way through all of the problems, don’t sit around thinking about them. You actually have to write your way through them. And don’t ever give up. Perhaps the most important, the one I follow myself, is: Follow your instincts.” ~Frances Itani

5. “I’m a big fan of the ambitious failure. And I try and urge them [my students] to overreach, to go too far, then look at what they’ve got and begin to shape it.” ~Michael Cunningham

6. “Discouragement and hitting walls and feeling lost–it’s just part of the process. You can’t really create without confronting those things. Trying to meet with those challenges and work through them is what it’s all about. It’s sort of like solving a puzzle. It’s not meant to be easy.” ~Jhumpa Lahiri

7. “You just need to write. The best way to learn how to write is to read, and then do it. Very simply, successful writing is when you are listening to yourself very deeply and you have something to say. It’s a very solitary, quiet, meditative process and you have to be patient enough to have that happen on the page. And trust that you have something to say.” ~Claire Tristram

8. “Don’t waste time feeling ashamed for being an unpublished writer. Each time you sit alone in a room and give your most honest and complete effort, you’ve earned the title of writer…” ~John Dalton

9. “If it’s important to you and you can capture something vividly, it’s worth doing. And there’s no way to gauge whether other people will care or not. But I suspect that if you’ve done something that pleases you and moves you, there are other people out there who will also be interested.” ~Dan Chaon

10. “Beginning writers may become overly discouraged by the difficulties that more experienced writers expect.” ~Joyce Carol Oates

Which quote resonates the most with you? Why? I’d love to meet up with you in the comments section!

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Recent Posts:
Looming Transitions {Book Review}
Motherhood & the Big Picture
White People Are Boring
Monthly Mentionables {February}

On Thursdays this year, I’ll share thoughts, tips and inspiration for writers. I’m certainly not an expert, but am simply seeking personal encouragement in this art and want to share with anyone who’s also trying to find their way as a writer. These short posts will come from books, articles, the Bible, my own thoughts, and other people. Check back each week or subscribe for new posts. Please introduce yourself in the comments–I’d love to meet you and hear about your thoughts on writing.

Happy writing!

Leslie

February 18, 2016

Thursday Thoughts for Writers~ Christian Art

On Thursdays this year, I’ll share thoughts, tips and inspiration for writers. I’m certainly not an expert, but am simply seeking personal encouragement in this art and want to share with anyone who’s also trying to find their way as a writer. These short posts will come from books, articles, the Bible, my own thoughts, and other people. Check back each week or subscribe for new posts. Please introduce yourself in the comments–I’d love to meet you and hear about your thoughts on writing.

Happy writing!

Leslie

Christian Art {Thursday Thoughts for Writers}~ What differentiates Christian art from secular art? Should the sole purpose of our art be to preach, evangelize, or disciple? And why does Christian art sometimes seem inferior to secular art?

[Disclaimer: This is a huge topic that I am skimming the surface of right now. For the purpose of this essay, I am thinking of writing when I talk about “art.”]

If you are a follower of Christ and you are also an artist, the art that you do, whether overtly or not, is Christian art. When I was a college freshman still living in my black and white world, I felt bowled over by heresy when my Christian professors started throwing around the phrase, “All truth is God’s truth.” And yet in time I saw the wisdom in that statement. All art, no matter who created it, has an element of imago dei in it, because every person is created in the image of God.

But what differentiates Christian art from secular art? Should the sole purpose of our art be to preach, evangelize, or disciple? And why does Christian art sometimes seem inferior to secular art?

Christian art has the aroma of Christ about it. Just as we can blindly identify the fragrance of a rose, the art of a Christ follower will have the essence of the eternal, an underlying hope in the almost, but not yet.

Sometimes we don’t know the exact purpose of our art, we only know that we are being obedient. In Walking on Water, Madeline L’Engle puts it this way: “The artist, like Mary, is free to say No. When a shoddy novel is published the writer is rejecting the obedient response, taking the easy way out. But when the words mean even more than the writer knew they meant, then the writer has been listening. And sometimes when we listen, we are led into places we do not expect, into adventures we do not always understand” (p. 22).

Creating Christian art is about trusting that God may be prompting us to something beyond ourselves and we may never know how He plans to use it. It could even be purely for His own pleasure and nothing else.

God gave very detailed instructions for the construction and decoration of His Tabernacle that some might consider to be extravagant. What did it matter that the clothing of the priests be embroidered with gold, blue, purple and scarlet thread (Exodus 39)? But those who had the joy of creating this art were the ones who were willing to listen and had enough courage to be obedient to the work God was calling them to do.

So why does it seem like Christan art is sometimes inferior to secular art? Is it possible that the Christian is not listening well or not willing to take risks? Or perhaps they’re focusing more on the art than on God?

Sometimes I wonder if God surrounded us with trees so that we wouldn’t forget a few simple lessons in life: 1) stay rooted, 2) keep growing, and 3) bear fruit.

As we create, we’re to stay rooted in Christ, not our art. When we face criticism or self-doubt, being rooted in Him will keep us anchored. Our branches stretch high and wide, growing daily as we reach our roots into more of Him, listening for His voice and prompting. And the fruit that we produce as a result of listening and walking in the Spirit will reflect the type of tree that we are–one that is rooted in Christ and devoted entirely to Him.

The result is that anything that we create is an echo of the One we are getting our nourishment, strength and motivation from. Our art is already Christian when it is a natural outpouring of our love for Christ, whether directly or indirectly.

Related Scriptures:
Colossians 3:23
Isaiah 37:31
Galatians 5:16-26

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Do you ever feel like Christian art is inferior to secular art? Why do you think that is?

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February 4, 2016January 13, 2017

Thursday Thoughts for Writers~When I Forget to Love

On Thursdays this year, I’ll share thoughts, tips and inspiration for writers. I’m certainly not an expert, but am simply seeking personal encouragement in this art and want to share with anyone who’s also trying to find their way as a writer. These short posts will come from books, articles, the Bible, my own thoughts, and other people. Check back each week or subscribe for new posts. Please introduce yourself in the comments–I’d love to meet you and hear about your thoughts on writing.

Happy writing!

Leslie

How do you manage your compulsion to write--being obedient to the call without making it your idol?

I just spent the last hour this morning ignoring my kids and doing “just one more thing” on the computer while my husband got them out of their beds, changed two dirty diapers and prepared breakfast. An hour later, I finally glanced up to acknowledge that I had checked out and wasn’t being fair to my husband. This wasn’t the first time in recent weeks that something like this has happened.

Lately, as I’ve thought about what it means to be both a writer and a follower of Jesus, these words have been coming to mind:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give away all I have and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

When I do not write out of love, my words are hollow, empty and meaningless.

In order to write from a place of love, I must be living a life of love. I’ve heard from many writers that the best writing comes out of a life well-lived. According to the God-man who walked on earth, that sort of life comes only when I am loving the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength; and secondly, loving my neighbor as myself (Mat. 22:37-39). In high school youth group, we were taught to prioritize our life with “J.O.Y.”: Jesus first, others second, yourself last. But lately as I’ve been exploring what it means to be a writer, I’ve started to flip my priorities, putting myself first, others second and Jesus dead-last.

The biblical definition of love is confusing to the rest of the world because we must first admit we are lost, hungry, thirsty, dirty, needy, poor, destitute, and dead before we can know True Love. And it is out of our gratefulness for that Love that loved us anyway that we are freed to love others and create the art that God has put into our hearts to create.

Am I letting myself soak in the well of that Love each day, allowing it to seep into every crack and permeate my soul? Do I write out of a burning heart, like those who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus? I wonder if some days would be better spent sitting and waiting for the Spirit to move me instead of writing a post jabbering on like the clanging cymbal of 1 Corinthians 13?

And how can I hope to write well (i.e. from a life of love) when I am blatantly ignoring my husband or children to put my impulse to write before their needs? Fortunately my husband hasn’t resented me (too much) yet, but I am still wrestling with wisdom to wiggle writing into the fringes of life rather than allow it to take center stage during this season when I have little ones to love first.

God wants our words to create a symphony and not be a lone clanging cymbal. He wants us to be everything He created us to be and gain all the gifts of the Spirit that He intended for us to live by. But His love must be central. It must be the standard to which every aspect of my life is calibrated. And when I am loving well, I will be writing well.

What are some ways you have been able to love well/live well AND write well without ignoring your family in the process?

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The Compulsion to Write~How do you manage your compulsion to write--being obedient to the call without making it your idol?

January 28, 2016January 13, 2017

Thursday Thoughts for Writers~The Compulsion to Write

On Thursdays this year, I’ll share thoughts, tips and inspiration for writers. I’m certainly not an expert, but am simply seeking personal encouragement in this art and want to share with anyone who’s also trying to find their way as a writer. These short posts will come from books, articles, the Bible, my own thoughts, and other people. Check back each week or subscribe for new posts. Please introduce yourself in the comments–I’d love to meet you and hear about your thoughts on writing.

Happy writing!

Leslie

“Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write?

And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must,” then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse.”

~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

“Whatever you do, do it with all your heart as in working for the Lord and not for men.”

~Colossians 3:23

Writing is a compulsion, but while it is a calling, I disagree with Rilke that we should build our entire life around it. If we are followers of Jesus, He is our God, not our art. Writing, like anything, can easily become an idol. But just because we don’t worship our art doesn’t mean that we create inferior art. Instead, it means that we have a more astute understanding of the impulse within human beings to create, because we know the Creator. So we write in the tension, pouring out our hearts while they are being held by our God.

How do you manage your compulsion to write—being obedient to the call without making it your idol?

Resources:
In the first two episodes of the podcast, Magic Lessons, Elizabeth Gilbert is a great cheerleader to encourage you to follow-through if you are feeling the urge to write.
Episode 1: Do What Ignites Your Soul
Episode 2: Cheryl Strayed to Moms

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Last Week‘s Thursday Thoughts for Writers~Bread and Fish

January 21, 2016January 13, 2017

Thursday Thoughts for Writers~Bread & Fish

On Thursdays this year, I’ll share thoughts, tips and inspiration for writers. I’m certainly not an expert, but am simply seeking personal encouragement in this art and want to share with anyone who’s also trying to find their way as a writer. These short posts will come from books, articles, the Bible, my own thoughts, and other people. Check back each week or subscribe for new posts. Please introduce yourself in the comments–I’d love to meet you and hear about your thoughts on writing.

Happy writing!

Leslie

We as writers are to be like the little boy who offered his lunch of bread and fish to Jesus to do what He would with it. I’m sure the boy assumed his gift would feed just one other hungry person, for this was all it was meant to feed. I doubt that he dreamed that his lunch would be multiplied to nourish thousands.

Like this boy, we are to humbly offer our words in faith and not be concerned with how God chooses to use them to bless others. We write from our depths, trusting Jesus to take our words and use them as He deems fit–whether it be to feed the soul of one person or thousands. That is not our concern, not really. Instead, we are called to offer what we have when we have it and let Jesus do the miraculous work of multiplication if that is what He wants to do.

There is peace in that for me today–I do the writing, but God does what He will with it. It takes the pressure off of self-promotion when I believe that these words of mine are now in His hands, ready to distribute to whomever needs to hear them today or years from now–even if it is just one person.

“He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap.

Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.

Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.”

Ecclesiastes 11: 3-6 (NASB)

We are to give our bread and loaves–our words. And to sow seed and write without being distracted by our statistics or readership. Because we have no idea what God will do with the simple gift our words when we offer them in faith.

Matt. 14
Luke 9

Do you believe God can use you and your words? Have you given them to Him and walked away?

How have you already experienced God using you in surprising ways?

~~~~~~

Previously on Thursday Thoughts for Writers:
Comparison

Art & the Alabaster Jar

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January 14, 2016January 13, 2017

Thursday Thoughts for Writers~Art & the Alabaster Jar

On Thursdays this year, I’ll share thoughts, tips and inspiration for writers. I’m certainly not an expert, but am simply seeking personal encouragement in this art and want to share with anyone who’s also trying to find their way as a writer. These short posts will come from books, articles, the Bible, my own thoughts, and other people. Check back each week or subscribe for new posts. Please introduce yourself in the comments–I’d love to meet you and hear about your thoughts on writing.

Happy writing!

Leslie

She tentatively tiptoes into the room, cradling her alabaster jar of perfume, the most expensive item she owns. She hears whispers and titters as she approaches The Teacher. He smiles gently, encouraging her as she approaches Him. Exposing herself to ridicule and criticism after coming out of a life of shame, she continues with what she is compelled to do, breaking and pouring out the jar onto her Lord and then wiping his feet with her hair. He touches her, and then silences those who protest, commanding respect for what she is doing, for it is beautiful to Him.

~~~~~~~~

The art that’s put into our heart to create is like this alabaster jar. As we, like Mary, feel compelled to carry it out into the world at risk of being ostracized, we pour out what’s most valuable to us in an act of extravagant worship. As we break our jars and offer our words, the scent permeates the page and drifts farther than we could have imagined, as an act of worship unto God Himself.

It would’ve been easier for Mary to pour out her jar privately, protected from the ridicule of others. But she did so before spectators, just as the writer willingly (or reluctantly?) submits himself or herself to an audience.

And like David, who insisted that He not present God with an offering that cost him nothing, so was her sacrifice. And so is ours…if we are brave. The risky words that cost us the most–that make us the most vulnerable–have the most power. If our breath doesn’t catch a bit before hitting publish or send, I wonder if we’ve put enough at stake.

The criticism Mary received is similar to what I face as a writer, though it’s often more of a wrestling with my own thoughts:

Why all this waste?

Why are you wasting your time when you could be doing something more productive? When you could be serving your family or at least contributing to the family income?

But what the world (or our thoughts) calls “waste,” Jesus calls beautiful. He operates within a different economy.

Let your most important words pour out this week without regard for what other people might think. Don’t listen to the lies that you are wasting time, money or relationships. If God is compelling you to write, then write. Keep pouring yourself out in worship to Jesus Himself–not others–because He calls the sacrifice of your words “beautiful.”

Mat. 26, Mark 14, Luke 7, 2 Sam. 24:24

Do you ever struggle with the feeling that you are wasting your time?

Do you ever see your writing as an act of worship?

~~~~~~~

Last week’s Thoughts for Writers~Comparison

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January 7, 2016January 13, 2017

Thursday Thoughts for Writers~Comparison

Every Thursday this year, I’ll share thoughts, tips and inspiration for writers. I’m certainly not an expert, but am simply seeking personal encouragement in this art and want to share with anyone who’s also trying to find their way as a writer. These short posts will come from books, articles, the Bible, my own thoughts, and other people. Check back each week and introduce yourself in the comments–I’d love to meet you!

Leslie

Do you ever struggle with comparison? What truths do you tell yourself to combat the lies in your head?

And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?

1 Corinthians 12: 16-17 (ESV)

It is so easy for writers to compare themselves to others in the world of social media, measuring our worth by our number of “likes” or shares on Facebook. I have been struggling with this for the past few weeks, comparing myself to an amazing writer I’ll call X. But it was right before I fell asleep the other night that God brought a thought to mind,

The world doesn’t need another X, it already has one. The world needs a Leslie Verner.

And something about that brought me so much peace. Just as it is silly for an ear to try and be an eye, it is ridiculous to think that my writing would be the same as someone who lives in another part of the world, who has had a very different history from me.

The world needs you, too, even though you may feel like an insignificant little ear (I certainly do!). God wants to use you in your corner of the world as you sit typing away on your laptop or scribbling in your journal. You have a story and perspective to tell that no one else has. And God wants to use you as an eyewitness to complete the body of writers that are telling His story in the world right now.

Do you ever struggle with comparison? What truths do you tell yourself to combat the lies in your head?

Related Article:
Facebook Envy, by Brianna Dewitt

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