Writing and God

I attended a writing event this weekend called Literary Connection. One of the speakers, author Carrie La Seur, talked about her writing path. She has an interesting journey outside of writing with degrees in French and English, she received a Rhodes Scholarship, obtained a doctorate in modern languages from Oxford University, and a law degree from Yale. Through all of this, her desire to write kept making an appearance in her life. She said at one point she marveled at how she’d gone through years without remembering how much she loved writing.

La Seur likened the desire to write to a creepy doll that you take outside and toss in the dumpster and when you go back inside, you find the doll sitting on your bed. This, of course, appealed to the horror writer in me. It also reminded me of my own journey where I had to push writing aside for other pursuits, but the deep desire to write kept coming back.

The desire to write was less menacing than a creepy doll though. It was a passion that I felt I couldn’t yet pursue. Although it would wait quietly at times, at other times, I had the sinking feeling I’d never get to pursue it.

Something I never questioned though, was that writing was a talent given to me by God. Even knowing that, it didn’t occur to me for years after I started writing full time to ask God to help me with the gift he’d given me. As I reflect, it’s not all that surprising. I find that I’m a self-reliant person who finds it difficult to ask for help. I have even, at times, found that a measure of success had to do with whether I could accomplish something on my own. You don’t have to tell me how flawed this thinking is, I actually know, but it’s taken me a while to get here.

As stubborn as I am, though, it dawned on me to ask God for help. Probably because I’d finally decided to start a blog, which felt way out of my depth, and I also decided to start submitting my work to literary journals. This occurred a couple of years ago. Am I surprised it’s taken me two years to tell it? No, not really. But like all things that I’ve shared about my writing journey, the story will get told if it will help someone else.

This blog has been chugging along for over two years now, and right after I started it, I had a string of acceptances from literary journals. Inviting God in made a world of difference for me. But I’ve had to remind myself to keep inviting Him in. Recently, it’s becoming more of a habit when I sit to write to say a prayer first, and then the words never fail to come.

It removes the fear and provides a new focus. As I sit here writing this, I’m thinking about how I need to implement this practice in my novel editing, which is far and away a different animal than editing a short story or poem.

The takeaway for me has been that God would not have given me this deep desire to write if He didn’t intend for me to be successful at it and if He didn’t want to help me with it. If my purpose was supposed to be different, my passion would have been different.

I hope these words are encouraging to you on your journey.