Nicely Handled

It's a short one today... Just getting in by the skin of my teeth before I head to bed. Today is one of those days when I'm getting down even if it's bad as I search for the good.

Some days it just doesn’t seem possible, this commitment to writing. There are days when I just want to give up. Quit writing, quit school, quit blogging. But just about the time that I am ready to give up, I get a little encouragement or a little reminder that I am a writer and writing is possible…

Writing is possible.

Today the encouragement came in a graded paper. It’s a funny story, ya know. How my high school English teacher is now my University literature professor, twenty years later. I have always loved her, I am always thankful for the opportunities I’ve had to learn from her. But I’ve also been a little (okay, a lot) intimidated by her. I always want to get the best grades possible.

So when my paper is returned with a B+ and the words, “Nicely handled. You write well.” You kinda wanna do a little dance and get off the couch and type another blogpost.

Just when I think that writing is not possible, I’m reminded that it is, I just have to work on it. And maybe next time the paper will be an “A.” 

Join me as I remember what it means to be a writer again. Writing for 31 days in an attempt to find where nature and art collide in the work of writing. Click the graphic to find all my #write31days posts.

Writing about writing

So I wrote something today for #write31days, but I don't like it all, so I'm pulling something out of my journal and dusting it off. More writing about writing...


How many times can you write about writing before it gets to be ridiculous? Really what I should be writing about is discipline, because if I had self-discipline maybe this writing dream wouldn't be so hard. 

I almost called it the task of writing because somewhere along the way the dream died and it became a task. But it's still a dream too. Although I have no big dreams of publishing a book, I would love to write essays that connect with others, that helps others know they are not alone. To write words that encourage, inspire, and maybe even exhort a little.

And yes, I want to write words that point others to Jesus.

I know all the right things in my head. I know that it takes actually writing to make a writer. But knowing is not enough. The next step is applying what I know, actually doing!

Maybe this would be more possible if I was disciplined--in eating right, in exercising, in making wise choices, in time spent with God, in creating, in writing.

When you work on discipline in one area of your life, it often spills over in to other areas, I just don't know which discipline to start with...

So today, I write about writing again --tomorrow, who knows?

My thoughts today: Is writing about writing a good way to find my writing voice? Do you have any topics for me to write about?

Join me as I remember what it means to be a writer again. Writing for 31 days in an attempt to find where nature and art collide in the work of writing. Click the graphic to find all my #write31days posts.

Embrace

When one wants to accomplish something new, be it healthy eating, running a marathon, learning a new skill, or can I say, become a better writer, one must embrace it wholeheartedly. You have to be all in. For there to be success in a new endeavor there must be commitment.

Change and new habits do not come easy. It takes a daily commitment, a full embrace. It can’t be one of those brief awkward side hugs.

Writing is a daily (and life long) choice. Every morning I have to wake up and say, “I am a writer.” And “I will write today.”

This does not mean if I don’t write on one day that I’m not a writer. It just means that I did not make the best choices that day. Although I have wondered –Does a writer need a “rest day”? Isn’t that what marathoners do? Run and run and run and then rest.

Embrace means to hold someone closely in one’s arm. Also, to accept or support a belief willingly and enthusiastically. I’m going to take this both ways.

I’m going to hold my pen and notebook closely in my arms, like I mentioned yesterday, keeping it close by so I can capture the ideas that come along!  I’m also going to embrace the fact that I am a writer and that I want to be a better writer willingly and enthusiastically.

That might mean stepping out of my comfort zone and possibly trying a new writing genre or writing about something that doesn’t really interest me, something to take me out of my comfort zone. It might even mean taking a risk and submitting something to be published, to risk a rejection.

My thoughts today: Becoming a better writer definitely means attempting #write31days and being proud of myself for making it all the way to day 4 ;)

Join me as I remember what it means to be a writer again. Writing for 31 days in an attempt to find where nature and art collide in the work of writing. Click the graphic to find all my #write31days posts.

Capturing my Thoughts

I am having the hardest time with today’s post, because for the last day I was thinking that the prompt was “Courage” and when I sat down to write and saw the word was “capture” my mind kinda went blank…

Writing is about capturing my thoughts. Writing takes time. Often I have fleeting thoughts, ideas, experiences I want to remember. Or Scripture and things I'm learning in my Bible study. However, if I don't take the time to write things down, the ideas slip through the web of my consciousness and disappear. I lose the opportunity to share the stories, to encourage others with what God is teaching me, to practice my writing voice.

And then I get discouraged and want to give up. 

I have a writing journal that I use when I have to (like when I’m taking a writing class or writing practicum in pursuit of my communications degree, and part of my class assignment is to gather 50 entries in my writing/idea notebook). But often I forget to use my journal, or I think I’m too busy to take the time to write things down.

But if I truly want to find my writing voice and become a better writer, capturing my thoughts and ideas is vital. I have already seen the benefit of skimming through past things I’ve written as a way to “prime the pump” and get the writing juices flowing again.

So I will pull out my writing journal and start carrying it around with me again and the next time an idea passes through my sieve of a mind, I will WRITE IT DOWN!

My thoughts today: Are you are writer, a creative, an artist? How do you capture ideas for future use? Do you use Pinterest, Evernote, or some other app? Or are you a pen and paper kind of person?

Join me as I remember what it means to be a writer again. Writing for 31 days in an attempt to find where nature and art collide in the work of writing. Click the graphic to find all my #write31days posts.

Five Minute Friday: Family

It's Friday, which means we get our prompt for writing from Kate Motaung and the Five Minute Friday Community!  This week's prompt is...

Family:

My writing improves when I actually live my life. My family, my friends, my kids, life events, all of these give me things to think about, things to process, things to look at through a lens.

“In order to write about life first you must live it.” (Click to tweet)

In addition to living a life, I find that if I want to write, I need to read, not the useless consumption of facebook, news, and light reading, but time spent in God's Word, in quality literature, in books on the craft of writing. For me, writing only comes when I have something to write about. And there is a limit to consumption and I have reached the point where I need to step back from consuming and start creating.

When I think of my writing journey, I am only where I am because of family.  My husband encouraged me to go back to school to pursue a degree in Communications. He continues to support me by picking up the slack when I'm consumed with schoolwork. My father keeps giving me books on writing, devotionals to encourage the writer, how-tos and ideas for writings, etc. My mom and my sisters faithfully (or semi-faithfully) read my blog whenever I actually post.

My kids learn from my writing. We've had conversations about writing and going back to school (especially when my homework gets in the way of something they want). I have even caught my kids doing some of their own writing. Journals are pretty high on the Christmas list even for my young kids. They have written short stories, comic books, essays, etc.

I am thankful for my family. In anything you want to pursue, you need to have support and I believe that the ones who support you are your true family, whether it's through blood or not.

Writing has also expanded my family. I've been a part of the Five Minute Friday family, the Allume family and the God-sized Dreams family. You might call them communities, but really that's what family is all about. Living in community with one another.

My thoughts today: Be family to someone today. Encourage them to pursue their dreams. Cheering on others has a way of cheering yourself up!





Join me as I remember what it means to be a writer again. Writing for 31 days in an attempt to find where nature and art collide in the work of writing. Click the graphic to find all my #write31days posts.

When the Writing is Calling

No matter how many times, I take a break from writing, (let's be honest and call it what it is... giving up), I still feel the need to write. This desire to share my story, to process my thoughts, to encourage, to inspire, to share God's hand in my life. It keeps calling me. It keeps wooing me back. The urge to write is often present in the forefront my mind.

But it still takes a response to the call. I can put it off time and time again (as I have been known to do). Yet it is still there present in my head, always on my to do list, pricking my conscience before I go to bed. Is that possible? Can the need to write be talking to me? Maybe I've gone a little cuckoo in the months of not processing the thoughts...

Often I'm reminded that I won't become a great writer in one week, maybe not even in 31 days. But if I plant the seed and water the seed, it will eventually blossom, bear fruit and ripen.

Writing is good for the soul. Even when it's hard. Maybe more so when it's hard. So I dust off the journal and pull out my pens, or open up the blog page and run my fingers across the keyboard. And I keep trying. Because there is grace in the writing, there is hope in the trying again, there is encouragement in the conversations started.

What is it that you keep putting off? What is calling you, wooing you? What dreams, art, communities, opportunities are reaching out to you?  How can we encourage each other?  One thing I've discovered about writing, it can apply to other areas of life. Maybe my writing about writing will trigger something in your mind.

My thoughts today: Don't Quit! Listen to the yearnings that are calling you! Try, try again. And maybe, just maybe you will find some joy.






Join me as I remember what it means to be a writer again. Writing for 31 days in an attempt to find where nature and art collide in the work of writing. Click the graphic to find all my #write31days posts.

God will bless the work of your hands

Sometimes in this journey to discover and pursue my God-sized dreams, sometimes in this desire to be a writer...
Sometimes I just have to open my journal even if it is already 10:00 at night and I don't want to write, but I don't want to quit this attempt at daily writing. Sometimes in that moment the journal itself gives a writing prompt.

Right there staring me in the face is Deuteronomy 16:15. 

"God will bless you ... in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete."

Writing is the work of my hands. Card making is the work of my hands. Continuing my education is the work of my hands. The meals I prepare, the baking I do, the time I invest in my kids and husband, even folding the laundry is the work of my hands.

The writing and the card making have been stagnant for far too long. I don't need to whine and cry about too much to do, or fear of failure, or uncertainty about how to proceed. 

I just need to stop procrastinating.

The work of my hands.
How can God use me?
How can God bless the work of my hands?
I have been keeping my hands closed, not writing, not creating, not making art. God can't bless what I'm not creating. But I can create again, if I open my hands and work with them.

What is it God is calling you to do, to create, to work with your hands? Are you doing it? How can we encourage one another today?

To Write (and Blog) Again

Six Months! I went six months without cracking open my writing journal. Six months without picking up my pen to write. And because objects at rest tend to stay at rest, I had a difficult time getting started again.

First it was busyness, then I felt I had nothing to say, and then it became fear. Even now as my pen connects with paper I'm not sure where this is going to go.

Way back when (really just a few years ago when all the cool kids started doing it) I called myself a writer. Not because it was something I've wanted to do since I was six years old, not because I was a great story teller, not because I had stacks and stacks of junior high and high school journals (although I have discovered a few diary attempts) but because writing helps me think, writing helps me process, writing calms my anxious thoughts.

So you can imagine how the last six months have been for me...

Writing is therapeutic so it's time for me to get back into it. 

This (me writing again) was only made possible by a Writing Practicum that I took in the spring semester, which included keeping a writing ideas journal (50 entries worth) and a month of the semester slipped by before I even started.

Do I want to be a writer? Or do I want to be a blogger? You can be a writer and not be a blogger, but can you be a blogger without being a writer?

I feel like I have too many questions and not enough answers...

What do I want to write about?

What should I write about?
What does God want me to write about?
Am I writing for myself? for God? for a targeted audience?

If I'm honest with myself I quit writing because it took too much effort and I wasn't willing to do the work. The whole idea of writing every day whether you feel like it or not just didn't appeal to me. But I'm learning in other areas that some times you have to do the work--whether it's exercise, eating right, creating art, writing... You have to do the work and the more you do the work, the more the desire comes.

So I'm giving it another try, this whole writing thing. Accountability is one of the only ways I get anything done, if any of my fine readers want to email me and nag me when the blog goes quiet again! 

I have to write... my sanity depends on it.

Five Minute Friday: Ten

I've been keeping my eye on Five Minute Friday, even though it's been almost TEN MONTHS since I last blogged. So I thought I would attempt a blog post.

Here are 10 reasons I haven't been blogging:

1. Life got busy.
2. Life got really busy.
3. Then, I got lazy.
4. The notion that I couldn't start blogging without a special relaunch of my blog complete with a redesign and lots of cool giveaways.
5. Fear
6. procrastination and laziness...
7. wanting to start with a month of prescheduled posts.
8. I figured no one missed my writing, that my story isn't that important.
9. I don't think I can sustain a regular posting schedule.
10. The Chihuahua of FEAR.

And then 10 reasons I should start blogging again:

1. Writing is good for the soul
2. I love the blogging community
3. I have some new release books that I am reading that I need to share with you all.
4. I am part of the #FTFBloggingTeam, which means I should be blogging about the awesome ministry of Fair Trade Friday.
5. I have some giveaway ideas and I know how much my few readers (is there anybody here) love giveaways!
6. I have been writing on and off over the last 10 months, I've just been too chicken/lazy to post things
7. I don't want to be a "quitter."
8. Blogging is a creative outlet and I need creative outlets.
9. I have a story to tell... We all do and story is important.
10. It only takes "5 minutes" so I should have no problem blogging!

I wanna write, I really do... am I willing to take five (or TEN) minutes?

Five Minute Friday: Change

It was 20 years ago that I walked into this building for the first time as a naive, scared-to-death, 17 year old college freshman. A lot has changed since then... except for the scared to death part. Why is it that I can be 20 years older, but the thought of papers, and quizzes, and presentations, and interactions with kids half my age SCARES ME TO DEATH.


Twenty years ago, I was looking for a quick degree... just an AA, no big deal. Just enough of an education to get a job being a secretary. (Yes, back then we were still called secretaries instead of administrative assistants). I loved typing, numbers, and organization, but I hated the phone.

Life has brought about a lot of change in the last 20 years. I graduated, I got married... and then I had 4 kids in 4 and a half years... and somewhere in there I started blogging and discovered writing as a way to express myself, as a way to think, as a way to process life.

And I decided I wanted to be a writer and my husband encouraged me to go back to school and get a communications degree... what was he thinking? What was I thinking?

I've taken a few classes here and there, but this semester it's TWO classes (come on, I'm a wife and mom... can't put too much on my plate) and for some reason, I get an unbelievable fit of nerves at the beginning of each semester. Nevertheless it's back to school time and back to campus, even though I feel old and wonder how I can do it with all those young'ns on a college campus.

Rules have changed, campus has changed, I have changed! And that is where I need to focus. I'm not 17 anymore. Life has given me a lot of experience, something that I can share with these young whippersnappers. Life will change for them over the next 20 years and I can go to campus knowing that I have something to offer them and to remember that they have something to offer me.

Change is not something I look forward to, but I know that it can be good for me. So this fall, I enter this building with anticipation, not trepidation and I go in confidence that this is what God wants for me and I will do the best that I can, not for the approval of man, but for God's glory. Change is what gets me out of my comfort zone and that's what I need right now.

What does change look like for you?  

Join me and the other writers at Five Minute Friday and share your five minutes on change!





photos credit: my awesome husband

Five Minute Friday: Tell

I wanna be a writer... really, I do! But somewhere along the way I have to find my reason, my drive, my passion.  Until I do, I will just continue to attempt Five Minute Friday in the hopes that someday, some where, somehow, the writing will improve and I will find my voice and my vision for the future...

This week, I'm not going to wait until the last possible moment. I will MAKE myself sit down and write, and I will share it here... (for real, I wrote this on Sunday... I just procrastinated until now to get it on my blog...aaarrgghh)

How can I not with a prompt like Tell:


Would it shock you to know that I've been blogging on and off for over 10 years?!?!?  It was shortly after my firstborn son turned one that my husband opened me to the world of blogging. It was an outlet, a way to inform family on the antics of our baby and growing family, etc. Over the years, I've wondered what my purpose is in blogging... what am I trying to tell the world? I tried my hand at photography, counting the one thousand gifts, sharing recipes and craft projects, and the dear to my heart handmade cards. But it also became the birthing place for my desire to be a writer.

Lately, I've been struggling with that desire because I've been unmotivated to put that desire into action... and just Friday morning I read the following on the Allume blog...

What’s your end game in blogging? What is the ultimate goal you hope to accomplish with this?

And I will ponder that and think through my goals and purpose. The other struggle I've had is with all the verses in the Bible that show the wisdom in keeping your mouth shut... "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding." ... and "Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" and I think, does the world really need to hear what I have to say? Or should I just keep my mouth shut and my pen silent?

And then God brings to mind the verses where He commands us to tell the generations to come (Joshua 22:27-28) His mighty works, His goodness, His miracles. And while I haven't figured out the how, the why, the when; I do know that I can use this blog to tell of the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ.  Sometimes it will be sloppy and choppy and maybe, hopefully, someday it will be eloquent and life changing to some one... even just one reader.

So, I will tell of the wonders of my God and pray that you will join me in sharing testimony to the great things He has done!

Psalm 145:4 “One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.”

Psalm 79:13 “ Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.”

Psalm 71:15-16 “My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure. I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign LORD; I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone. 

STOP:

Now get thee over to Kate Motaung's place and read some more great five minutes and tell them what their words mean to you!

And take a moment in the comments to share what great things God has done for you this week!

The Written Word: Snail Mail

I've never been a huge fan of my handwriting. For one thing, I'm left handed and it took many childhood years of struggle to figure out how to write without smearing the ink with my hand... and I don't hold my hand at that crazy awkward angle like my father does (have I mentioned that I love my father and all the quirks he has gifted to me?)

bunny trails, bunny trails... where was I?

Writing, the struggling theme of my smattering of blogposts lately.

More specifically, handwriting.

I know the power of the written word, especially the Word of God.

I also know the power of a handwritten recipe from a dear grandma, mom, or aunt.
I know the power of a scrapbook page with captions written from the heart.
I know the power of a hand-written journal entry
(Ooh, another bunny trail--my parents found my high-school diaries in their basement last month. I'm looking forward to picking them up on our next visit).
 
And I know the power of a hand-written encouragement note, thank you note, or birthday card (I'm partial to handmade).

It's rare to see a handwritten envelope in the mailbox these days, but thanks to #fmfpartysnailmail there are days when buried in the bills, catalogs and credit card offers, a small and beautiful breath of fresh air appears.  A personal envelope, handwritten. Those little notes mean the world to me--encouragement, verses, reminders that God is good and He sees me. A refocus that brings renewal and refreshment. Sometimes a handwritten note that pushes me to be a better me.

Like my mom and my oldest sister, they send handwritten notes regularly, little newsy updates, a connection in this fast-paced, so easy to drift apart world... I wanna be like them.

Even in my writing/blogging endeavors, I find that the ideas come and the words flow more easily with paper and ink instead of a keyboard and screen.
Writing helps me sort my thoughts, writing is an encouragement to others, writing is a way of telling generations to come the wonderful works of our amazing God. Writing is a way to give thanks to friend, to family, to God.

Have you seen the power of the written word in your life?

I'm joining my #fmfpartysnailmail friends over at Kaitlyn's place as we share about the written word, Go check them out!!