Please welcome this weeks guest Elizabeth Kitchens for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? As a writer of fairy tales, it’s fitting that I am under a curse. Not a curse to prick my finger on a spinning wheel’s spindle or to be a beast, but to write. But if writing is a curse, then I’ll happily live with it. Actually, what my father was referring to when he called writing “the family curse” was the frustration that happens when you’re a … [Read more...]
Day 73: Starting Again and Again
I think we all have our times when we start something only to stop, then we come back and start again going through the cycle over and over. Whether it's a job where we start each day anew and by the time we are getting off we have our ending each day as well. Or if we start some new craft project like crocheting a blanket. Some people don't get easily bored. But if you're anything like me I can only go so long before I get bored with what I'm doing and I stop for a while only to start again … [Read more...]
Day 67: Seinfeld’s Calendar
You might be thinking, "What in the world does Seinfeld's calendar have to do with writing?" It's simple. He, too, is a writer. A writer of comedy. He knows how to make people laugh. He was so good he even got his own TV show that went on for years. Personally, I was never a fan of him or his show, but millions of people were and still are, so much so that his show remained on for years. Here's the thing. Did he become popular overnight or do you think he worked at it several years while he … [Read more...]
Day 66: The Pitfalls of Grammar
When we first think about something to write, whether it's a new book idea, a short story, or even a paper for school, we need to be able to be free to write without worrying about where a comma goes or if you have a run on sentence. Just write. Freely let your hand write out those thoughts on paper or into the computer. This is where our creative juices flow. Freely from our minds to the paper below us. I love that time. None of it may make sense when I'm done, but in that moment it sure did … [Read more...]
Day 61: Writing Hours
Everyone's writing time is individualized to that person and what works best for them. One person may only have an hour at lunch time to devote to the craft whereas someone else may have the entire day. We all lead different lives. Some are married while others are single. Some have children others don't. Some have a job outside the home and some may have no job at all. We can't judge someone else's output by what they do. Personally, I am now a stay home mom who homeschools her niece. I work … [Read more...]
Day 58: Retreating to Play
We can look at kids with all the energy we wish we still had and get tired by looking at them. Sometimes we joke and say, "Man, if I could bottle all that energy and sell it, I'd make millions." We all laugh and agree. I think sometimes we forget what it's like to play. I'm not saying to go out to the monkey bars or anything. I'm talking about taking time out to do some fun adult things like rock climbing, paintball or going to a dance club to just let loose. Kids are undeterred by what … [Read more...]
Day 57: Juggling
In life, the perfect day would be 100% smooth. If we're doing something we don't get interrupted. We blissfully move from one activity to another. The dream life. Well, that's just it. It's a dream. Whether at home or at a job, you will always inevitably be interrupted by someone or something. That's just life. Sometimes those interruptions are either wanted or good. Other times you wish you could disappear. Ultimately, we have to juggle everything we do in just the right combination so we … [Read more...]
Day 38: Ideal Conditions
Are there ever any? I kind of think about when a husband and wife decide they want to start having children but then they wait. To have enough money, but there never seems to be enough. To have the right job, but never seem to find it. To get that promotion you've been waiting for, but it never comes. To, to, to, there seems to always be something that gets in the way. As any parent will tell you, if you wait until the "perfect" time you will never have them. You just have to do it and … [Read more...]
The Journey with Jo Walker
Please welcome this weeks guest Jo Walker for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey? In Psalm 139, King David begins by telling us there is simply no place we can go that God isn’t already there. In verses 13-16, he points out the reality that God is even with us when we are being formed in our mother’s womb. He speaks to how wonderfully we are made, and goes on to tell us that every day of our life was recorded before one ever … [Read more...]
Day 7: Jumping Off
I have to laugh. Talk about something hitting home. I have been struggling to get back into my writing. I have a completed first draft of my fiction novel but have been unmotivated to just sit down and edit it. I have several story ideas, that as soon as they pop into my brain, I immediately write them down. Everyone I talk to tells me to just jump in and do it. Yet, I don't no matter how much I should. I could come up with a million excuses, or a better way to say it would be … [Read more...]
