Finding That Magic

Sometimes - especially in the middle of the holiday season - we put pressure on ourselves in all the wrong places. Have you felt that? The desire to make every moment count? Or maybe the desire to keep up with so-and-so and her Anthropologie dessert plates (because, hello, is there anything cuter than that Antro kitchen stuff)? We put so much of this pressure on ourselves, in fact, that we very quickly grow overwhelmed, and we lose the whole point. Celebrating the birth of our Savior and the abundant life He has brought into the world.

The same thing happens in our writing. Sometimes - especially if we've been doing this writing thing a while - we feel as if every page needs to be bestseller status in its very first draft. And so we become acquainted with the feeling of not-enough. Then pretty soon, our not-enough becomes not-at-all. And what started as a totally normal part of the writing process derails us to such an extent that we can't remember the last time we just sat down and wrote at all.

If you're feeling the tug of the not-enough's this season in your life, be encouraged to know God has said you are more than enough, through the grace He has offered. He has power, skill, breath and life for your story in abundance when you look to Him.

Be encouraged that like Christmas lights, our stories shine in between the dark spaces. Sometimes these are even dark spaces of our own lives - discouragement, rejection, failure, or even writer's block. Being too busy. Just to name a few.

But we must keep writing, friends, for the magic moments to come. We must keep telling stories through the dark spaces - because if we don't tell our stories, who will?

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Ashley Clark writes romance with southern grace. She's dreamed of being a writer ever since the thumbprint-cookie-days of library story hour. Ashley has an M.A. in English and enjoys teaching literature courses at her local university. She's an active member of ACFW and runs their newcomer's loop. When she's not writing, Ashley's usually busy rescuing stray animals and finding charming new towns. You can find Ashley on her personal blog, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. She is represented by Karen Solem.