MAKING MEMORIES IN WRITING

Making memories, one step at a time! That is my motto for right now in my personal life. And should be ours as writers. God uses our incredible imaginations, invaluable knowledge of story techniques, and vast research skills to put together just the right story line that He desires to come out of our minds. All we have to do is be available.

When you sit down at your computer, begin a work session with prayer that God will inspire you, direct you, and use you to the best of your ability in those moments. Bind our enemy’s distractions, discouragements, and despair from attacking your heart and slowing your progress. Banish your pessimism and second guessing, listen for your characters’ voices to speak, and allow your creativity to flow. Ask Him to loose His Spirit to write through you, for it is His story in reality. Be faithful to your calling and He will be faithful to His promises!

While a set schedule and writing goals are important, don’t get so caught up in producing “so many words” that you miss the beauty of the prose you are creating. Have fun with it and let it charm you as you do when immersed in a book that has latched onto your mind and heart and won’t let go. Before you know it, you will discover the hidden treasures God had planned for you to find that day, and wonder why it was such a struggle to drag yourself to the desk that morning. Don’t get me wrong: it is hard work, no doubt. Anyone who tells you otherwise either is misguided or has never written anything more than a grocery list or text message! However, you are never alone in facing it and trudging through it and emerging victorious on the other side. And the memory of that will spur you on to other similar triumphs.

In the process of writing, God will reveal to you the themes He is working on in your own life, the battles raging within, and the conflicts you are enduring. And help you make sense of them as to how they impact your WIP. It is in your writing He can unleash them for healing, restoration, and new purpose. Nothing could be more amazing than watching this miracle unfold before your eyes, unless it is knowing someday when another in need reads your words, she can also find the same miracle for her own life.

My advice then? Just write! And let the Lord handle the results in His own time. Make those memories with Him and with your characters and for them. It will be worth it all!