If I’m asked my least favorite chore, the answer is immediate: ironing. I will do any other chore and do it with gladness and lightness of heart before I will turn to ironing. I can’t explain the antipathy. Perhaps it’s the tedium found in ironing out a wrinkle in a sleeve or dress when I could be writing or drawing or taking out the trash.
The First Draft is the Ugliest
If one is the loneliest number, the first draft is the ugliest draft. The end. There’s no way around it. If you can accept that reality, carry on. If you can’t, writing will be an ever-frustrating task. You will struggle to find joy in doing the work.
How to be a Better Writer: Choose Humbleness
I’ve talked about humbleness previously, but it’s a trait worth regular consideration. The humble writer is a growing writer. She views her role and her writing in the right manner. She is more interested in producing a good work than in preserving her ego. [Read more…] about How to be a Better Writer: Choose Humbleness
A Little, Big Thank You
Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12 (NASB)
How to be a Better Writer: Exercise Your Writing
The writing life – and the life of faith – are ones of continual exercise. Paul tells Timothy to exercise in God daily (1 Timothy 4:6-10, The Message). No spiritual flabbiness is allowed. For the writer who holds her art as a means of exercising both her talent and faith, the same holds true. She has to exercise. She has to train because it makes her fit “both today and forever.”
[Read more…] about How to be a Better Writer: Exercise Your Writing
Fight for Community
Community isn’t found; it’s built. Once built, you have to fight for it each and every day. [Read more…] about Fight for Community