Writing More

I'm trying to write more. It's a cry of my soul. I often find that my thoughts and emotions don't always make total sense until I get them out through the clicking of the keys or the scratch of pen to paper.

If you look back at the frequency of my blogs, you'll find I do this about once a year. I declare with great gumption and forthrightness: "I'm going to write more! I NEED to write more! I'm making the time! Hello again blog word!" And then I do for about a week, and trail off into the land of other things more pressing. The soul cry neglected for the world staring eyeball to eyeball.

Isn't that life though? The art of balancing the soul cries with the actual cries coming at us from all corners. The crib, the hunger, the laundry, the coloring and crafting and running and playing, the bill paying and the dish washing. The poor, the widow, the orphan...the pure and faultless religion that God our Father accepts (James 1:27). The cries come at us from every direction, seemingly all the time.

I recently read that:

Stephen King writes 2,000 words a day, “and only under dire circumstances do I allow myself to shut down before I get my 2,000 words.”  He finishes a 180,000-word novel in three months.  He says, “If I don’t write every day, the characters begin to stale off in my mind—they begin to seem like characters instead of real people.  The tale’s narrative edge starts to rust and I begin to lose my hold on the story’s plot and pace.  Worst of all, the excitement of spinning something new begins to fade.  The work starts to feel like work, and for most writers that is the smooch of death.”  Credit: here

Now, I know Stephen King has 3 kids, but I doubt they are still in diapers these days. So bless him for his 2,000 words a day. (I wonder if he was able to do that when they were in diapers?!) I would just like to eek out the ones that will be most helpful to my soul in these moments.

How does a writer get to the point where they think others will want to read what they write? I mean when did Stephen King say: "Ya know, I think I will call a publisher...someone else might find these 180,000 words of mine worth $20 a copy." Maybe it's just the drive of the goal of being published. I recently had someone tell me that I should write a book about my life experiences. When she said it, I have to admit, something in my soul sparked. Almost like a little lightening bolt to my spirit. We'll see what the Lord does with that. ;-)

For now, I'm just trying to balance the everyday pushes and pulls with the cries of the soul the Lord put in me. I seek to honor the soul He put in me and the soul work He has put in front of me.