Like Waiting for Rain in a Drought

In our culture, I think it's easy to get the idea that fame and fortune is the ultimate measure of success. Especially for writers, artists, musicians and others in creative professions and hobbies. If you're not getting accolades, and if your target audience don't recognise your name, some might suggest you're not doing the 'platform' thing properly. The juicy carrot is always dangling a few inches beyond your reach. Yet you assume the goal of fame must be achievable, because you see others in your same field taking great, crunchy bites of their own magnificent carrots. Sometimes that encourages you to never give up, and other times, if you're honest, it makes you envious because the quality of their offerings seems to be no better (or maybe even worse) than yours.

Many of us are probably familiar with the author Julia Cameron, who helped several creative people break out of their non-productive ruts with her book, 'The Artist's Way.' She suggests that longing for fame feels a bit like waiting for rain in a drought. 'We keep squinting toward the horizon, jealous of our luckier neighbours and dissatisfied with our own condition,' she says. Her words gave me funny images of Elijah asking his servant, 'Can you see anything yet?'

Can you imagine this? After several fruitless looks, the young man replies, 'Yes, there are a couple of new reviews on Goodreads and a slight increase in your Amazon sales ranking.'

Well, we know what happened in the Bible. Elijah and his servant rushed out in order to beat the soaking deluge they'd already predicted to King Ahab. So in our analogy, we grasp these measly signs and push on, trying to prepare ourselves for the downpour of sales, ads, notoriety and money we hope will follow. But maybe in our case, the small cloud will just waft away. 'Hey,' we complain. 'That's not what happened with Elijah!'

Julia Cameron goes on to muse that our culture has taught us to think of fame as a necessary by-product, but she also suggests that it's full of empty calories with no nutritional value. We are taught even by some Christian media moguls to keep seeking the amazing breakthrough, after which our lives will be abundantly blessed. But we need only look at the sad revelations, not to mention several premature deaths, of many celebrities who seemed to have it all to see that fame is not all it's cracked up to be.

'Not all artists will lead public lives,' Cameron goes on to say. 'Many of us as talented as those who fame strikes may toil out our own days in relative anonymity.' And that's okay, because it may not even be healthy for us. I'm reminded of another article, this time written by Ann Voskamp, in which she argues convincingly that the human soul isn't really even designed for fame.

So this sort of message encourages us to make sure we're listening to our Creator rather than our culture. Keeping in mind how easy it is to get the two mixed up may be a key to help. I appreciate anything that may clear my mind in this confusing world where we're brought up not to be attention seekers as children, and then later, chastised for not seeking attention in the adult world of self-promotion. Let's enjoy any praise and accolades that come our way, but not at the cost of forgetting to stay focused on the main thing. If our love for God, others, and the joy of our work is what drives us, then our lives are full of what matters most regardless of the fame and attention we're receiving from other people.

Paula Vince is a South Australian author of contemporary, inspirational fiction. She lives in the beautiful Adelaide Hills, with its four distinct seasons, and loves to use her environment as settings for her stories. Her novel, 'Picking up the Pieces' won the religious fiction section of the International Book Awards in 2011, and 'Best Forgotten' was winner of the CALEB prize the same year. She is also one of the four authors of 'The Greenfield Legacy', Australia's first and only collaborated Christian novel. Her most recent novel, 'Imogen's Chance' was published April 2014. For more of Paula's reflections, you may like to visit her book review blog, The Vince Review.

 

Holy Calling

Do you ever wonder what impact your writing has had or is having on the public? The feedback I have had for 'Time to Shine' (co-authored/ co-edited with Jenny Baxter, along with some lovely contributors who had their work previously published in Christian Woman magazine) has mainly come from book reviews or friends, or friends of friends. The feedback has been pleasing but has never quite had the impact on me that a recent one has had.

A customer, I have never met before, came into the library where I work casually and totally floored me. She was looking at my name badge, as I processed her books, and said,"That name... did you write a book?" It was my 5 second moment of fame - and my work colleagues congratulated me (and ribbed me)!!! Someone had recognized my name as the name of a writer!

It was a lovely moment. But fame isn't important, though perhaps it can help with publishing. What was important to me was that this lovely young mother treasures her copy of our book. This book that was published five years ago, and conceived eight years ago (and a great many of the stories that Jenny and I had selected had been written many years before that!). She has it sitting on her bedside table and returns to it over and over again. She told me the stories of the women in the book were a huge encouragement to her. May God bless those women who once felt compelled to write their stories for that magazine.

It is a great reminder that what we put down on paper is ministry - it is the work of God. Surely it is holy. Do we ever recognize it as such? How often do we think we aren't up to it? Or we question the value of what we have to say?

This encouragement came at just the right time for me. For almost three years now I have been working on a manuscript, a unique collaboration with someone very special. There was a time when I walked away from it because I felt vulnerable and uncertain, but it has a message that is very close to my heart and I know God wants me to stick with it. God also brought on board a close friend, who is a well published author (30 plus books) and editor, who kindly edited it for me (free of charge)- as a gesture of friendship and belief in my work.

As we are getting nearer now to submitting our work to a publisher it may be just the time for me to trust that God will use my faithfulness and that of my friend. Maybe it is indeed time to recognize this writing I do as a holy calling. I remember saying to Jenny as we worked on 'Time to Shine' - "God will use our availability and obedience above any skills we might or might not have". He called us and we responded and then one day a young mum with a terrible cold pushed a pram into a country library and delivered a message I needed to hear.

Thanks be to God.