How's the writing going?

You’ve all heard the question before. Every writer has. Maybe you’ve anticipated it and given a well-thought-out, succinct answer. Maybe you were just excited someone asked and prattled on and on about how it’s all going; your voice rising an octave while your hand gestures increasing dramatically, all the while telling the poor, unsuspecting person the plot of your amazing story in intricate detail. Or maybe … just maybe, like me, you cringed inwardly and stumbled over some excuse about not having the time, life getting in the way, your busy schedule, etc, etc …

So, how’s the writing going?

Mazzy Adams wrote a post the other week about her muse. Mine got lost somewhere between Darwin and Toowoomba. Either that, or he went on long service leave, flew to one of the islands close to the Bermuda Triangle and got lost.

Last year I moved back up to Darwin. It was the wrong move. Right for various reasons, wrong for my creative flare and so-called muse. I decided to move back down to Toowoomba to the delight of the Quirky Quills and started a small part time job. Perfect. More time to sit down and write, learn the guitar and perhaps even get my motorbike licence. That’s what I wanted. God had other plans.

The job has turned into a full time Store Manager position which takes up most of my time. I’ve been sick multiple times this year with a few injuries in between. I bought a guitar, but it sadly sits on its stand, hardly used. I did complete my motorbike learners licence, however I’ve only been out on my bike once. To top off the first half of this year, I’m having to watch what I eat because my body seems to be disagreeing with something I have yet to identify.

I had so many plans this year. To write, to read, to learn new things, but EVERYTHING has been turned upside down by ‘life happens’.

So, how’s the writing going?

It’s funny. When life happens I get so caught up in feeling guilty for the simple fact I’m not writing. My creativity seems tapped out, bled dry from all the mind-numbing ‘happenings’ of my day-to-day life. I get to the end of each day having put a hundred percent into everything I did and all I can do is sit down and breathe. There is nothing left, but I still feel guilty.

All those memes telling me to write. All those blog posts of encouragement and helpful tips. All those writers telling me I should write everyday regardless of how I feel. Even if it’s a small journal entry of what happened that day. Get into a schedule, girl! Most of those I can ignore, but when someone who knows I like to write asks how it’s going, I cringe.

I cringe because of all the good advice I’ve been given. I’m surrounded by a writing community and see everyone else pursuing their dreams, publishing books, writing, editing, creating their worlds. I wonder what’s wrong with me. Why don’t I have the same passion at the moment? The same discipline. The same drive. Why aren’t I pushing myself to write regardless of whether I have the mental capacity to do so? Why have I let life happens get to me?

So, how’s the writing going?

‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: … I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time …’

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 NIV

I’m looking at this all wrong. This is not my season to write. Life does happen and there is a time for everything. Your time to write might not be now either. You may be experiencing a similar situation. Your muse may have met up with mine. You don’t have to feel guilty because you’re not pursuing a particular part of your life. Other things may be happening at the moment which need the extra creative energy. You’re still using your creativity, you’re just using it in a different way. It could be problem-solving, brainstorming new ideas, character building yourself, not your stories.

We all go through hard times. Some more than others. Those times we need to focus our energy elsewhere to grow and learn. If you’re working through some big things at the moment, don’t be so hard on yourself if you don’t have the energy to write and you sit at your computer and stare blankly at the screen. Your season will come. Focus on what’s happening now. Experience it. Live it. Lean in and allow the breeze to direct dictations.

K.A Hart is a born and bred Territorian who moved to Queensland and had no choice but to stay after her assimilation into the Toowoomba's infamous, collective known as Quirky Quills.

Since then, K.A. Hart has had two short stories published. Stone Bearer, appears in Glimpses of Light and Tedious Tresses, in the As Time Goes By Mixed Blessings anthology. She is currently in life happens stasis.

Wise Words

Apparently Ecclesiastes is the flavour of the month. Nicole Watson stimulated my interest once again through her ‘nothing new under the sun.’ Then Carol Preston’s ‘A time for everything in Season’ got me swaying to its beat. I had chosen a section out of this Old Testament book for my blog and hope it has some morsel for your writer’s heart.

The preacher, as he is called, concluded his insights to life and his testimony with incisive words for all writers, especially Christian ones. ‘The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true. The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly imbedded nails — given by one Shepherd.’ Ecclesiastes 12:10-11.

Whether we write fiction or non-fiction in any genre may our words have in them some goads and nails. As the reader journeys with us through the story, let us hope and pray something written goads them. Such a reaction may well produce a quickened conscience, a u-turn in behaviour, an awakening to a greater understanding of our Lord and His call upon their lives.

Apparently in the days of the Preacher you needed to insert any nails where you wanted them as you built the wall. This was due to the fact that such structures were either too hard or fragile to have nails hammered in. Be that as it may, when applied to our writing the principle is correct. The penetrating force of our words is woven into the story, not something simply attached later.

Being bookish type people we know the quote, ‘Of making many books there is no end and much study wearies the body.’ Eccl.12:12b. Your shelves probably echo “Amen!” However if my understanding is correct this statement is actually a warning. For in the preceding verses he is highlighting the words, proverbs and sayings of the one Shepherd. By my understanding that is a significant term for our Lord.

Therefore as the writer of Ecclesiastes concludes his own insights, he calls for the recognition of priorities for writers and readers. There will always be new books and reprints on the market to capture our time, hearts and minds. Just make sure you do not neglect the most important, the most stimulating and the most spiritually enriching book for all time. That is, the book written by the Shepherd through the life experiences of His ‘pens’, the prophets, priests, apostles and faithful servants.

I tend to believe that when His book is our priority, then our writings will be upright and true, laced with goads and nails as well as food and drink for the soul.

Ray Hawkins.