Know Thyself - a Devotional to Battle Fear in Your Writing

For the past two months, I’ve been moving at speeds nearing overload. It’s been pretty crazy. From full-time work to five kids (with massive science fair projects) to a new house which needed some major cosmetic renovations, there hasn’t been a lot of time to write. It doesn’t make for a very productive wordcount…I can tell you that!


In the middle of all of this, there has been a struggle with my writing-calling. A struggle to even consider the Genesis again. A struggle to daydream about my wip. A real struggle to take my smallest moment of mental solitude and dance around the idea of ‘what if’.

Interesting enough, my fellow AlleyCat, Julia helped tag one of my main problems in her post last Tuesday.

So, I want to chat a little today about what FEAR does to our writing and how we can dissipate those fears. It really all comes down to KNOWING Thyself.

I’ve come up with 5 things that fear does.

1. Distracts – The first whispers of fear bring with them one thing for certain: distraction. It’s the little niggling of uncertainty just before the self-examination begins. This hint of fear begins the unhealthy spiral of distraction away from our creativity and writing-purpose, and if fed, will lead to #2.

2. Discourages – If we remain distracted by our fear long enough, the questions begin. Is this story really good enough? How can I ever write as well as Julie Lessman, Laura Frantz, Denise Hunter, Liz Curtis Higgs, or Robin Jones Gunn? I'm stuck in chapter 2 and will NEVER write my way out!

3. Distrusts – With comparisons comes distrust. We don’t ‘measure up’, so we begin to lose faith in our calling. The discouragement builds to such proportions it blinds us from the Truth, which then leads us to #4.

4. Distance- We distance ourselves from the Source of our calling and sometimes from the ones He’s placed in our lives to encourage us. It makes it easier not to have to face people who are going to ask us about our writing, so we don’t have to admit to our many failings (we’ve convinced ourselves of in numbers 2 & 3). We might also distance ourselves from our writing, making excuses to do anything else but open up that document. (Been here more times than I care to admit). At the very end of this long and painful battle, we fall into the pit of DOUBT.

5. Doubt – Am I called to write? Will I ever learn? Of course the judges made those kinds of comments! I’m such a failure.

Oh, how we listen too much to the wrong voice! What’s happened when we make it to this point in our 'fear downward spiral'? We’ve lost sight of something vital.

WHO. WE. ARE.

I don’t mean:

Single, white, female

Or

Middle-aged, married male

Or

30-something soccer mom

Nope – I mean even more intimate and foundational than any of those things.

We are God’s kids.

HE HAS CALLED US HIS!!!!

He has NOT given us a spirit of fear. He has given us the power of his RISEN Son – power strong enough to shake the dead, and that kind of power is much greater than any doubt.

So what do we do to battle the evil doubt monster?

Remind ourselves to whom we belong.

1. If we get distracted, we fill our minds with the truth of God. We were created for a purpose, and within the folds of that purpose is the call to write.

2. If discouragement comes, we build our COURAGE with the truth of Scripture. Romans 8:31-32, 37 “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, give us all things?...In all these things we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.” Are you getting the hint yet? Who are you?

3. If you begin to distrust yourself, trust in the One who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light! Proverbs 3:4-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path.” The One who never fails and is steadfast will make the way clear. He has called. He will equip.

4. If you feel the impulse to distance yourself, remember His GREAT love for you. So safe within his hold you will find strength, encouragement, and faith to fight against your fears. Hebrews 10:21-23 “and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” It’s all about HIS faithfulness! We have no need to run away, but we can find hope in His love and in the love our fellow writers sprinkle on us because they know Him too :-)

5. If we counteract all of those fears with the word of God, then (even if the doubt comes) we have all the truth necessary to counteract its influence. The powerful message we received in church yesterday was the story of Thomas, who declared that he needed to touch Jesus’ wounds to believe he had risen. What did Jesus say to him? “Stop doubting and believe.” Doubts may come, but through Christ we have the power to vanquish them with the TRUTH of his love.

Fear cannot win against Jesus. He’s conquered it all – so the next time fear starts to nimble at your mind and scratch at your heart, remind yourself WHOSE you are!

And the battle is over, before it begins :-)

How do you battle your fears in writing or in life? What words of wisdom or Scriptures encourage you to wage war against doubts?
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pictures courtesy of:
http://www.thechoicedrivenlife.com/seven-thoughts-on-prayer
http://eafromtheheart.blogspot.com/2011/09/jesus-i-want-to-trust-in-you.html

Gaining a Reader's Trust

I aspire to write an exciting book that will touch the lives of readers. A noble cause, wouldn't you agree?

To touch a reader's life, I ought to gain their trust starting on the first page and maintaining to the last. 


Clearly my friend Casey, pictured to the left, has found a fantastic book. She appears engaged, unwilling to set the book down--even for the camera, and committed to not losing her place. Once her paparazzi puts away his/her camera, Casey most likely dove back into the story.


Why? What captured her attention. Among thousands of plausible answers, I think she believed in the storyline.


Is my book believable?

We create exciting stories.  But--

if the reader detects impossibilities unsupported by characters, setting, and plot, 

we lose their trust.

Take me to Mars, but not on a skateboard. 
      Cast off the cruise ship, but not from Paraguay. 
           Fight the Civil War, but not with an atom bomb. 
              Send the fastest message to Laura Ingalls Wilder but not with email. 
                 Monsters need to be scary (except in Monsters, Inc.), 
                      mysteries should be perplexing, 
                           dark alleys frightening, 
                               a kiss dreamy,
                                  let the underdog win, 
                                      defeat the foe before the last page, 
                                          and, 
                                                well, 
                                                     you have the idea.  

But...

    What if--


    -- a story had an affluent, proper English young lady sailing a solo maiden voyage across the sea to join her family in America, who chooses to transform into a calloused, mutinous sailor? 

Hmmmmm...not likely? Definitely a dust collector? Unworthy of publication?


Well...


    What if --

   --the story had been crafted by a writing artist who painted an intriguing plot, 3D characters, and a vivid setting, might the idea work? 

Perhaps.

In the skilled hands of author Avi, sweet Charlotte traded her

prim and proper, white gloved, hooped skirt, 
speak only at certain times manners

for 

swabbin' starboard decks in pants, anchorin' the gasket, 
and scaling rigging in the middle of thunderstorms alongside mutineers

in the True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. 

Avi crafted his novel to compel readers to wish for, yea, hope for the perfect ending. As pages turn, readers know what the ending should be but doubt any author would have the guts to write the perfect-unbelievable dream ending. After all, who'd, in their right mind would transform an upper class young lady into a scruffy, sunburned sailor with thick callouses embedded into her once satin soft skin? 

Avi not only enticed readers to believe and desire the unbelievable; he won the Newberry nomination for his work.  Perhaps the unbelievable can be believed--when crafted in a believable way.


Do you have examples of unusually believable stories? What gripped your attention and caused you to stay with the story to the end?


What if your story stood in a courtroom.  The prosecutor accuses, "This work is not believable!" Would the evidence presented by your characters, setting, and plot acquit your book?