The Story of Us

Shane Brigg

Let me plunge us all right into this adventure together …

I have been having some serious doubts about my writing for a while.

I had been thinking about the usual pattern of telling stories and I, as a writer, was experiencing a challenging impasse of sorts.

In the midst of considering some influential and life-challenging inquiries into leadership along with (formative) perspectives on basic biblical study (hermeneutics) I came to some powerful questions. These in turn led me to some big challenges to my metanarratives.

The leadership challenge for me is huge, but in essence it has challenged me to highlight a humbling servantship that at its core has me developing ‘un-leading’ principles and practice.

The hermeneutical challenge is in synergy with this servantship/leadership paradox.  

It has lead me to ask questions like this:

Were we meant to read the stories of the Bible more authentically? (aka in the context of the original writers, from God’s perspective? To the context of the original recipients?) (Duvall and Hays (2020)). What if we actually did read the stories of the bible authentically/differently? Would we understand it differently and would we live our lives differently? Would we minister differently?

Along with these questions, perhaps the most confronting thought for me as a writer was the idea that some of my preconceived notions of story telling started to be challenged (maybe even unravel a bit (a lot) ).

Take the hero’s journey for example ...

The hero archetype is generally defined as an individual protagonist who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. A hero protagonist's traits help readers to understand them, connect with them, or follow their actions and understand why they do what they do.

I have been asking myself - like Papa (2016) - if the Hero’s Journey is “the chief organizing story” of human civilization and stories are the most powerful communication technology, to what extent might the Hero’s Journey be responsible for where we are at today?

Where I am at today? (“Gulp”)

How might the conceptualization of the Hero’s Journey be contributing to what we are experiencing on all scales of society, development, world issues, good things, bad things, personal vexes and maybe even sin?

What could happen if we told our hero stories differently?

What would happen if we did tell our hero stories differently?

What if the story of “me” was informed differently?

Wow. All of this is very deep and complex and way beyond the possibility of a brief encouraging read (Blog).

So I have reduced my thoughts here to a blog-length truncated thesis that starts with a “What if” question:

What if we told hero stories where the hero was a group rather than an individual?

The relationship between individuals and society has been the concern of human inquiry and praxis for thousands of years. It is addressed by sociologists, psychologists, philosophers and theologians. The bible has something to say about it too.

Many modern thinkers have taken some of their lead from Mead (1934) who theorised that the individual and society were inter-related . The “development of the individual’s self, and of his self- consciousness within the field of his experience” is pre-eminently social. Mind, according to Mead, arises within the social process of communication and cannot be understood apart from that process. this presupposes a social context within which two or more individuals are in interaction with one another (we grow and develop together, not separately).

Bellah et al (1985) and Hewitt (1989) discuss the tensions of community concerns and pursuit of individualistic interests. The tensions of individualism and collective is perhaps one of the challenges in our current social grappling. Several authors (eg. Lois 1999, Hall 2016)  have highlighted some problematic notions that the individualistic Hero narrative seems to encourage including :

 a)     A distinction between the hero and everyone else. It puts us – everyone else – in the position of waiting for the hero to come along and fix things. Very disempowering.

b)    A form of dualistic or elitist “me vs them” perspective .  Rather than transcend differences and encouraging cooperation, it creates and encourages separation.

c)    In the West the hero in the journey is generally a high status individual. Hence we often have heroes like King Arthur, Bruce Wayne, etc… This leaves many people out.

This is not to say that all that has been promoted as the Hero’s Journey is “bad” and/or has not served humanity. Its perspective (it could be argued) has helped in breakthroughs in the development of technologies and extended lifespans. But at the same time, humanity is deeply divided and we are destroying systems that sustain life. Our highly hierarchical, individualistic, tendencies are resisting the shift in how we are called to help to bring healing. The Individualistic Hero’s Journey is perhaps not the narrative we need right now.

Jennifer Lois (1999) attempts to answer this quandary in her paper “Socialization to Heroism: Individualism and Collectivism in a Voluntary Search and Rescue Group”. In it she examines the tension between self-interested individualism and norms of self-sacrifice in a volunteer search and rescue group . She draws on 3 1/2 years of ethnographic fieldwork to highlight how individuals were socialized into a heroic collectivist community with a commitment to make a positive, often sacrificial difference together.

The Group Hero is an emerging archetype of the Hero story that differs from lone hero stories. According to Claudia Hall (2016) of the California Institute of Integral Studies there are five specific ways:

1) Group Heroism is about participation in the larger cause,

2) Group Heroism is team based,

3) Each team member is different and everyone’s contributions are important,

4) The cause takes precedence over personality conflicts, and

5) Leadership (influence) is dynamic and team based.

She explores each of these themes using mass media examples of movies, comic books, and games, and compares how the Group Hero tenets differ from the presentation of heroism in more traditional lone hero stories. In group hero stories, success is dependent on the performance of a team. Thus, Tolkien’s Fellowship of The Ring, C.S. Lewis’ Pevensie Children in Narnia, and movie examples such as Guardians of Galaxy and The LEGO Movie can be seen as group hero stories because the main characters could not succeed without their team.

It is worth referencing that Claudia Hall applied her Group Hero archetype template to designing writing pieces that help to resolve the problem of school bullying.

This excites me considering the paradoxical challenges I offered in my stumbling introduction. It excites me because the Group Hero metanarrative seems more in-line with the biblical narrative I encounter as I re-read scripture through a collectivist contextual lens.  It was like the heroes of the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the 28 Chapters of Acts now had a group hero sensibility (It is about participation in the larger cause, the cause takes precedence over personality conflicts, and Influence is dynamic, egalitarian and team based). In turn this has meant that the story of the people that we call our faith gathering (church family) are intertwined not just in a story of potential individual heroism but of an ongoing ‘Chapter 29 of the Book of Acts’ collective heroic journey. It is not just a story of individual heroes or of “their story” or of “my story”, it is a “story of us”.  

The “story of us” is an extraordinary perspective and meta-narrative about the people, places and events that have shaped our history and can frame our future. Because it is collective, it is more community-oriented than individualistic.

What does it mean to be community? The English-language word "community" derives from the Old French comuneté,  which comes from the Latin communitas : "public spirit" (from Latin communis, "common"). Communities may have intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, and risks in common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness. Community is an important aspect for our wellbeing. It helps us to be able to receive what we need and give what we have. Building relationships with people and having a place to feel at home. 

As a school chaplain/youth worker/pastor of over 35 years I know the power of helping to empower healthy communities. 

 

To be in community means to have neighbours and people in your corner.

Who is in your corner?

There are times when things can feel tough, but there are people around you who are wanting to give. This kind of hero story telling says “Please don’t be afraid to reach out and connect with others no matter what your differences/challenges: we can face this together”.  

Having this kind of community is something very special! Especially in the occurrences of our contemporary world. It is special and important to have ways for people to connect and engage in as a broader community. Perhaps this is why I am impassioned by this concept of telling stories through Group Hero narratology.

Building Community is like writing a “Story of Us” that expresses the values and shared experience of the ‘us’ in our contemporary settings (neighbourhoods /towns /cities /states /nations). This means our ‘us’ can and will change over time, but many things will stay the same over many years. Mutual humility, servantship, teachability and adaptability are part of that story of us. Embracing and living these tenets helps to create a sense of unity, togetherness, and focus on our shared values.

What could happen if we told our hero stories differently?

The story of us helps to transform our worlds.

Think about the story of us for a minute by focusing on choice points……

“Choice points” are moments when you faced a challenge, made a choice, experienced an outcome, and learned a lesson together with others.

Ask yourself:

When did I feel I had to act to help others and what did I do with others to help?

Once you identify a specific, relevant choice point, dig deeper and ask yourself:

What was the outcome of this choice and how did it feel?

What did it teach me?

Some of us may think that our personal stories don’t matter or that others won’t care to hear them. But as we do community or social change work together then we have a responsibility to give a public account of ourselves – where we come from, why we do what we do, and where we think we’re going.

In your story of us is your community motivated to action to make a positive difference in other’s lives. It is also about the choices and challenges your community has faced. That said, a compelling story of us doesn’t just highlight challenges, it emphasises stories of combined progress to help give people hope. As Marshall Ganz (2009) wrote, “Hope is one of the most precious gifts we can give each other and the people we work with to make change.”

Hope wrought together becomes part of the narrative of our group heroism. 

Anyway, with all of this said

- and perhaps having opened up a semantic pandora’s box –

I can’t shake this call to take this journey, and so I have begun ……

a)    a re-write of several of my in-progress pieces,

b)    a synopsis crafting of an entire new story with a collective (Group) Hero (a blended family grappling with their own personal inherited ghosts to face off together and ultimately be resolved to make a positive (heroic) difference)

c)     my own personally deep soul searching

I would love to join with you in this great adventure. 

Inspiring Hope. Empowering Change.

 References

Bellah, R. (et al), 1985 Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. University of California Press

Hewitt, J. (1989). Dilemmas of the American Self . Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Duvall and Hays (2020) Grasping God’s Word: A Hands-On Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible (4th Edition) Zondervan Academic

Ganz, M. (2009) “Why Stories Matter” in  Sojourners Magazine, March 2009 (Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 16)

Hall, C.  (2006) “The Group Hero: An Archetype Whose Time Has Come” In Exploring the Collective Unconscious in the Age of Digital Media (pp.214-231) 

Lois, J. (1999) “Socialization to Heroism: Individualism and Collectivism in a Voluntary Search and Rescue Group. “ In Social Psychology Quarterly. Vol. 62, No. 2, Special Issue: Qualitative Contributions to Social Psychology (Jun., 1999), pp. 117-135 (19 pages).American Sociological Association

Mead, G. (1934) Mind, Self, and Society: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist, edited, with an Introduction, by Charles W. Morris, Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Papa, M. (2016) Awakening to a Path Beyond the Hero’s Journey

Walker LJ, Frimer JA, Dunlop WL. (2010) “Varieties of moral personality: beyond the banality of heroism”. Journal of Personality 78:3, June 2010 pp: 907‐942.

Recommended Resources from the 2021 Omega Writer's Retreat

Omega Writers held a successful online writing retreat in October, with inspiring sessions from Edie Melson and Nicole Partridge, and informative panel discussions on publishing and marketing.

Today I’m sharing some of the resources discussed during the retreat, particularly during the marketing panel (which, unfortunately, did not record).

Recommended Resources

Podcasts

Here are some excellent writer podcasts to listen to:

• Joanna Penn at The Creative Penn
• The SPF podcast (Self-Publishing Formula) with Mark Dawson
• The Novel Marketing Podcast with Thomas Umstatt Jnr
• Write from the Deep with Karen Ball and Erin Taylor Young

I enjoy the Creative Penn and SPF podcasts because they’re both produced by authors who built their reputation and platform on selling genre fiction, and who still write and publish multiple books a year. Yes, they both have courses and nonfiction books, but their focus is their fiction.

Facebook Groups

There are many excellent Facebook groups for writers. The best groups allow little or no self-promotion, as their aim is to help writers (not become a spammy echo chamber).

• Australasian Christian Writers
• Christian Writers Downunder
• Christian Indie Authors
• Avid Readers of Christian Fiction
• Wide for the Win
• 20 Books to 50K

These last two groups are aimed at general market authors, so the language and subject matter can get spicy … but the information is excellent.

Other Recommended Resources

• Book Whispers (for cover design, publishing assistance)
• Novella Distribution (for hard copy book distribution within Australia)
• Impressum (for cover design, editing, and publishing assistance)
• The Collaborative Press (for cover design, editing, and publishing assistance)
• Mark Dawson’s Advertising for Authors (a paid course)
• Bryan Cohen’s 5-Day Amazon Ad Profit Challenge (a free course that leads into a paid course)

Author Platform

Authors need a website, but how do you build one if you’re not a web designer? An online course may help.

• Carolyn Miller recommended the Kick-Start Your Author Platform Marketing Challenge (a paid email course).
• Andrea Grigg recommended Crazy Easy Awesome Author Websites (a paid course from Lawson Writers Academy).

Q&A

There were also lots of great questions in the chat.

How much can an indie author expect to pay up front to publish?

The two main expenses in self-publishing are cover design and editing.

How much does an editor cost?

The cost of editing varies. The first book might cost $2,000 or more, because you’ll probably need two kinds of editors:

• A developmental editor (looking at genre, plot, structure, characterisation, point of view, and other major aspects of writing).
• A copyeditor (who looks at the writing at a sentence and paragraph level, making sure the writing is clear and error-free).

It’s worth paying for both sets of edits, especially for newer authors. These will often be two different people. Traditional publishers will use a line editor between the developmental edit and the copyedit. The line editor works on polishing sentences and paragraphs to make sure they say what the author means them to say and in the strongest way possible. A traditional publisher would complete at least two rounds of proofreading once the document has been copyedited by an editor and revised by the author:

• At least one proofread using the Word document, to catch any outstanding typographical errors. There may be more than one proofreader at this stage, and it would probably be a specialist proofreader i.e. not the line editor or copyeditor.
• A second proofread on the final page proofs (e.g. the PDF or InDesign file), and would focus more on the look of the test on the page e.g. no widows or orphans (a single line of text on a page), and no rivers (a line of spaces running down a page). At this stage, the proofread would only change the most obvious errors, as adding or deleting a word on page 12 might mean repaginating the entire manuscript.

Self-published authors have different processes depending on their budget. Some hire an editor or proofreader for the final read-through. Others work with a team of eagle-eyed beta readers to proofread. The actual cost of editing depends on word count, the quality of the writing and how many rounds of revision and editing the manuscript has already been through.

• Lisa Renee (from The Collaborative Press) USD 85 per 10,000 words.
• Meredith expects to pay around AUD 1,200 for 70,000 words for a main copyedit.
• Carolyn Miller suggested around AUD 1,000 for 90,000 words if the writing is very clean (which probably means it’s already been thoroughly edited by the author and one or more editors, or is from a multi-published author).

Any tips on cover design?

Genre is key when it comes to cover design, so it’s important to know your genre, know the books in your genre, and select a cover designer who knows what sells in your genre. Check out books in your genre. Authors will often credit their cover designer, so check out books in your genre. Suggestions from those at the retreat:

• Lankshear Design
• Upwork (but be sure to check the reviews before hiring anyone)

A full wrap paperback and ebook cover is around USD 250 (but a custom or illustrated cover can cost USD 1,000 or more). Premade covers are cheaper, and can start at USD 50. Premade covers are a good option for standalone books (not books in a series, because they should have consistent styling and branding and it’s going to be difficult to find premade covers with consistent branding).

What is acceptable content in Christian fiction?

The US Christian market is very conservative. They won’t drink beer or wine, but they’ll happily eat burgers and pizza for every meal. But the definition of “acceptable content” depends on your target market, and that’s going to be slightly different for everyone.

• Are you writing for a mainstream Christian audience, or are you writing for the general market and bringing in Christian themes or “grace notes”?
• Are you writing for the Australian market, the US market, or the UK market?

Each market is different. The best advice is to read a lot in the genre you’re interested in, and observe the trends and standards. Also, work out which publishers and imprints publish in your area, and because that will also help. This is a subject we’ve blogged about before: Acceptable Content in Christian Fiction

How can I get my books into Koorong?

Contact them. They have a form to fill out, and you’ll need to send them a copy of your book. Then they decide. Self-published books will need to be of the same standard as traditionally published books, and you’ll either need to have a solid author platform (e.g. website, email list, or established fan base), or have a unique book that meets a genuine need.

How can you get books in audio?

Those of us Down Under can’t use ACX (Amazon), but we can publish audio through Findaway Voices. Penny Reeve and Cecily Paterson got a grant to produce an audiobook from Create NSW.

Yes, we covered a lot in a short time!

Did you attend the retreat?

What top tips or resources would you like to share?

About Iola Goulton

Iola Goulton is a New Zealand-based book reviewer and editor specializing in adult and young adult Christian fiction. She won the 2016 ACFW Genesis Award (Novella), and copyedited Then There Was You by Kara Isaac, which won a RITA Award from Romance Writers of America. Iola holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree majoring in marketing and has a background in human resource consulting. When she’s not editing, Iola is usually reading or writing her next book review. Iola lives in the beautiful Bay of Plenty in New Zealand (not far from Hobbiton) with her husband, son, and cat.

Resistance is Futile!

This is my Star Trek avatar created on Trekkietar

When I was about fourteen, I discovered Star Trek. I loved it. We only had the original series back then—on rerun, by the way. I’m not that old. I remember going with friends to mini conventions which basically involved dressing up (you didn’t call it cosplay back then) and binge-watching series episodes on the big screen. I was in true geek heaven. When other kids had posters of KISS, ABBA, or The Bay City Rollers (yes, really) on their wall, I had pictures of Kirk, Spock and the starship Enterprise.  

Yep. Geek. How amazing is it that William Shatner recently travelled to space at 90-years-old? 

There have been several iterations of the Star Trek universe since then and while I’ll always love Shatner, Nimoy and DeForest Kelley, in the original series, my favourite Star Trek series is The Next Generation (TNG). Set a hundred years after the original series, Sir Patrick Stewart, as Jean-Luc Picard, gave a new dignity, and eloquence, to the role of Starfleet Captain. 

The TNG crew also featured in my all-time favourite Trek movie, Star Trek: First Contact. This movie was a lot of fun and it showcased one of the most sinister villains of the Star Trek Universe, The Borg. The Borg are black-leather-clad cyborgs. Their starship is a huge cube with weaponry that can overpower almost all other ships. They operate as a hive mind—The Collective—and are controlled by the Borg Queen. Their goal is perfection, and they operate by assimilating other races into their own by injecting nano-bots into their victims. 

They are a powerful enemy of all civilisations and their demoralising warning to all is: Resistance is futile. The Borg are too strong. Give up now.

By IMPAwards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54488873

I won’t spoil First Contact for you (but if you haven’t seen it, where have you been?) but those words, resistance is futile, are used to great effect in the climax of the film.

By now you’re probably wondering what this has to do with writing. 

Well, this week I’ve had the Borg catch-cry in my head as I’ve pondered a different, but very futile kind of resistance: resistance to writing.

I suffer from this resistance a lot—even though I love writing. Do you? I know I’m not alone.

To create a world and immerse yourself in the lives of your characters is a thing of joy. You get to know these make-believe people, torture them in some diabolically cathartic way, then cheer them on as they overcome the obstacles you throw before them. What’s not to like? Writing can be so much fun, so why do we resist sitting down and filling empty pages with our words. 

Resistance is weird. Why will we do almost anything other than write our first draft of a fiction novel? I’ll work on my website, write a blog post, take the dog for a walk. Anything. I have a friend who says her cupboards are never cleaner than when she’s drafting a novel.

I’m convinced resistance is different from writer’s block. While these two problems can be related, in my experience writer’s block is usually caused by a problem within our stories. If our plot isn’t working or if the goals, motivations and conflicts of our characters aren’t sound, we can easily stop writing and feel blocked. Resistance, on the other hand, is often experienced even before we sit down to type.

The resistance I’m talking about is also different from the inability to write that comes from serious life situations. I couldn’t write for six months after my brother died. That wasn’t resistance, it was grief.

Resistance to writing is the psychological force that pushes back against us when we try to create. 

In the realm of physics, resistance reduces to the ability of a wire to conduct electricity. The larger the resistance, the less electricity passes. In the same way, resistance to writing holds back the creative flow. 

Inertia is another physics term that says a mass will stay still or keep moving in a uniform way unless it’s acted upon by an opposing force. If you have a large SUV broken down in front of your driveway, it will stay there unless you are strong enough to push it out of the way. The good news is that once you get the SUV moving, inertia helps to keep it moving. The harder you push, the more the vehicle gathers momentum. But if you stop pushing, it will stop moving because of gravity and friction. Now if you are trying to push it uphill and you stop pushing...

Image by Schäferle from Pixabay 

Writing resistance is like that inertia. If we can overcome it, we gain momentum that keeps us moving forward, but if we don’t maintain our force and intention, our stories grind to a halt. 

Resistance to writing can lead to futility. It can stop us in our tracks, take us captive and rob us of the satisfaction of creating a body of work we are proud of. It can cripple our self-esteem, assimilate us into the mundane and crucify our joy.

But fighting resistance is not futile. It can be beaten even if, like me, you have a bad case of this malady.

Here are some things that can help:

• Start. It sounds simple but the best way to overcome resistance is to begin. Determine that you will write some part of your novel, however miniscule, each day.

• Make your goal doable. If resistance is a strong force in your writing life, then start with a tiny goal. Forget NaNoWriMo with its 50K words in a month. Begin with 300 words a day. Or say you will spend half an hour a day writing new story. 

• Give yourself permission for those 300 words to be the worst writing ever. Because words, even badly composed words, can be edited and built upon.

• Experiment. Try a different approach. I recently discovered the dictation function in the Office 365 version of Word. I am woeful at dictation, but when I use it to get a distracted rabble of words down onto the page, I don’t have a blank page anymore. And the fear goes away.

• Use a pen name. Sarah Painter in her book, Stop Worrying, Start Writing, suggests if fear of failure is holding you back, tell yourself you are going to publish your book under a secret pen name. Whether you use that name or your real name at the time of publication, doesn’t matter. What matters is that you trick your brain into thinking no one important to you need know these words are yours.
• Believe in God? Then pray. After all, one of his titles is Creator!

When we start, even with tiny goals, and give ourselves permission to write badly, a strange thing happens. The forces of inertia are overcome, and we begin to move forward. Our 300 words build momentum and become 500 words or 1000, until the story takes a life of its own.

I began this post by talking about Star Trek and the Borg. In this case the Borg were the opposing force speaking words designed to demoralise their victims. Resistance is futile. But resisting the Borg (sorry, spoiler after all 😆) wasn’t futile. 

Nor is resisting resistance. With writing, the power of resistance is itself futile. It can be beaten. 

And no alien cyborg is gonna stop us!

Have you wrestled with resistance? What tactics do you use to beat it? Let me know in the comments below.

Susan J Bruce, aka Sue Jeffrey, spent her childhood reading, drawing, and collecting stray animals. Now she’s grown up, she does the same kinds of things. Susan worked for many years as a veterinarian, and now writes stories filled with mystery, suspense, heart and hope. Susan also loves to paint animals. Susan won the ‘Short’ section of the inaugural Stories of Life writing competition and won the 'Unpublished Manuscript' section of the 2018 Caleb prize. Susan is the editor of 'If They Could Talk: Bible Stories Told By the Animals' (Morning Star Publishing) and her stories and poems have appeared in multiple anthologies. Click here to check out Susan’s writing and artwork on her website.

Mentors, Godparents and the Writing Thing.

 ‘Me? She really asked if I would consider being her mentor?’

I was flabbergasted. Me. A mentor? I don’t know anything. I’m barely able to work through my own issues in life and someone wanted me to be their mentor? And what was a mentor supposed to do?

Would you believe me if I said I looked up the definition?

A wise and trusted counsellor or teacher. [Pft! Wise? I’ll probably have to look that up in the dictionary too, but I know I’m neither old enough or experienced enough to be wise.]

An influential senior sponsor or supporter. [Ha! I should never be left unsupervised, let-alone influence anyone.]

I checked the thesaurus, maybe there was a better fit than mentor — adviser, coach, guide, instructor, trainer, tutor, counsellor … maybe not.

Photo by Alexis Brown on Unsplash

Lisa Bevere released a new book in late 2020 called, Godmothers — Why You Need One. How to Be One. For some reason I remembered this book after my friend and I had this bizarre conversation about mentoring and thought I would check it out. I mean, I have a young niece / goddaughter who lives interstate and I sadly don’t have much contact with her (purely my fault - life and all that) and isn’t mentoring kind of like being a godparent or part thereof?

Someone to whisper a blessing and a word of courage over your life. Someone to help you close your gaps. A guide who sees your potential waiting to be recognised, your challenges in need of transformation, and your questions requiring honest answers.

— Lisa Bevere

Looking back on accepting the opportunity to write blogposts on this website full of far more experienced, wise and knowledgeable writers than I, I remember feeling the exact same way as I did about the possibility of mentoring someone. 

Me? Write a post, on writing, for Christian writers … who would read it? I had nothing to say. My ‘so-called’ voice was still being developed. I didn’t have a published book, or short story, or poem or article or any other form of writing document. I did however have a very poor, first draft of a novel, a small group of friends who knew I liked to write and an open opportunity to have a go. Was it the right thing to do? I didn’t think so at the time. Was it the right thing for me? Well, let’s just say, that same very poor draft which has been edited here and there over the years (and has miles to go—according to me) was my submission to the Caleb Awards last year. I was one of the finalists in my category.

 

When we’re afraid of succeeding at the wrong thing, we run the risk of doing nothing. 

— Lisa Bevere.

Those of you who linked in to the Omega Writers Online Retreat last month would have heard Edie Melson speak on Soul Care for Writers. One of my take-aways from her session seems quite small and ironically and hilariously something you’d think a writer, any writer would be already doing. Writing. But not just writing all the stories we have bunched up in our heads, writing down our hopes and fears. Writing though the doubts that constantly hammer each of us everyday. Writing out the logical-sounding ‘why I can’ts' and working through these oppositions with the one thing we like doing the most.

The importance of an idea, dream, or hope can be measured by the opposition you experience when you dare to embrace it. 

—Lisa Bevere.

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

I know from experience (I can say that now), you don’t need to be the best writer, you don’t need to have something published, you don’t need to feel wise or knowledgeable for that matter. Everyone (yes, I’m talking to you) regardless of what path you’re going through in your journey with Christ, you have something to contribute to this writing community. Be bold. Be brave, or don’t be, but put yourself out there anyway.

Words, whether written or spoken, have the power to highlight our paths. 

— Lisa Bevere.

If you think you might want to try your hand at writing a post for Christian Writers Downunder and have been a contributing member to our Facebook page and/or engaged via comments in these posts; and been apart of this group for more than 6 months, let us know. We’re looking for some new blood, a few new voices to help bring fresh ideas, encouragement and blessings on this wonderful writing community we have. You can contact us through our Facebook Page, comment below or email us at CWDBloggers@gmail.com.

Feeding the Reservoir (aka Soaking up the View from my Window)

By Mazzy Adams

A writer’s inclination to observe people and places is common, if not intrinsic, as it informs the character characteristics and settings we create for our readers. But for months, opportunities to casually watch passers-by while sipping a caramel latte inside a coffee shop, or freely travel to another place just to see what’s there, have languished in the realms of wishful thinking. Whether introvert or extrovert, opportunities to top up our creative reservoirs have taken a hit.  

It’s not surprising that, as global conditions have created compelling reasons to stay at home, innovative online groups have created new ways for people to connect and explore the world.

Last year, I joined a group called ‘View from My Window’. Precious glimpses into the daily lived experience of folk from across the globe have broadened my view of the world and the people in it. The views shared range from earthy to exotic, workaday to wondrous, and shabby to sublime, yet each outlook has someone to belong to, and a message to share. 

My home office window offers a homely, garden outlook (complete with bonus self-seeded weeds; freebies courtesy of the birds and the breeze) but, as I recently discovered, the view from my window was waiting, willing, and wanting to refill my depleted creative reservoir with gentle reminders and encouragements. I just needed to stop and listen to its words and stories.   

The garden began life as a goldfish pond, dug by hand out of compacted clay and lined when our children were youngsters; I relive the happy memory of their delighted squeals as they enjoyed a fun-filled ‘test swim’ before we added the water plants and fish.

Years of drought and water restrictions drove the pond’s reinvention into a garden that requires, and receives, minimal maintenance, but the elements I can see—from the plants, to the rocks, to the scar created by the chair which temporarily supports the rainwater tank’s overflow pipe—all bear witness to precious truths. 

The garden has a peaceful palm tree which sheds its dead leaves from time to time, and a beautiful-in-its-wild-and-messy-growth-pattern olive tree which I planted about twelve years ago. 

The palm tree whispers, ‘Don’t hold on to dead regrets, nor things that have passed their season of flourishing and must relinquish their moment of glory to make way for the new things God is doing now. Let them go. Draw water and nourishment from the reservoir of God’s word to grow and nurture new branches for this season.’ Without the weight of these dead things, I can confidently reach ever heavenward, to give my Lord honour and glory, and draw ever closer to Him in relationship. 

The olive tree reminds me to give thanks for my blessed heritage in God, which is rooted in history, in His chosen people, in the promises given in His word and received by faith, for all who are children of God, branches of His Olive Tree, natural or engrafted. 

The agapanthus remind me of the joys of my childhood (when I loved to ‘pop’ their swollen buds to release the bloom). They encourage me to always rejoice in the blessed innocence my Heavenly Father has given to me through Jesus Christ, to come boldly and confidently into His presence as a loved and accepted child, and to bloom and expand where He’s planted me. 

The agaves remind me that, in Christ, I can flourish in the harshest of conditions. I can raise my hands and the centre of my heart and soul to Him even when I’m feeling spiky, or bashed and battered by the hail of adversity. He sends His rain, and His love, upon the just and the unjust alike. When I willingly receive the mercy He rains upon me into the centre of my being, He refreshes me and renews my life. 

The papery bark of the native Australian melaleuca reminds me that God enables my writing and inspires my uniquely Aussie style; I can trust Him to direct and send my words to the world from this Great South Land of the Holy Spirit. 

The violets growing under it remind me that, just as they bring forth purple blossoms in season, as I also dwell in the shelter of the Most High, rest in the shadow of the Almighty, and experience and enjoy all the promises of Psalm 91, then the outworking of His grace will be as evident in me, and attractive as the pretty purple faces of those violets. 

The rocks and pebbles remind me that I am part of the house that is being built together in love and fellowship, founded on Jesus Christ, The Rock of Salvation, and the Chief Cornerstone. 

The visual scar created by the poly pipe—a temporary ‘fix’ to channel the overflow from the water tank—reminds me that God can even use my imperfect efforts and temporary solutions to channel His overflowing, life-giving anointing to where it’s needed. As I turn my attention to my computer screen and keyboard, this knowledge renews my passion and energy for the tasks intrinsic to the ministry of creative writing and publishing to which I feel called.

The jade reminds me to be mindful of the cultural beliefs and sensitivities of others, and to respect every individual, whatever their background or origin. We have one of these growing beside the entrance to our property too. The first day the grandparent of one of our students met us, she was thrilled to see the jade, explaining that, in her culture, it was a positive emblem that bode well for her grandchildren as they sought to advance their education and understanding with us, and that gave her joy, peace, and a feeling of well-being. 

And finally, hidden in the secret place in the depths of the earth, the bulbs of the hippeastrum wait patiently for their time to come, when their blood red trumpets burst forth, rising to announce their presence to the world. And, because I know my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, my heart begins to sing: 

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

Refrain:
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of his resurrection share;
When his chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. [Refrain]

Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun;
Let us talk of all his wondrous love and care.
Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done,
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. [Refrain]

Just as there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven, the view from my window is not static and the photos I’ve shared reflect some of those seasonal variations. 

I wonder, have recent seasons caused you to slow down … hunker down … stare wistfully out the window, longing for freedom? 

Whatever elements the view from your window frames—picturesque or ordinary—have they, do they, could they remind you of God’s faithfulness? Speak to you of endurance? Or something even more profound? Will you pause to listen to their stories?

Who knows, perhaps they’ll whisper, ‘It’s time to write and/or send the words you’ve been given out into the world to connect with the very people who wait to receive them.’ What an exciting thought!

[Copyright Information: 

Hymn: When the Roll is Called up Yonder; Music and Lyrics by James M Black, 1893, Public Domain.
Images: Mazzy Adams 2021]

Mazzy Adams is a published author of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. She has a passion for words, pictures, and the positive potential in people. 

Website: www.mazzyadams.com

Email: maz@mazzyadams.com