Writing Doldrums

Ever get stuck? You don't know what to write. You stare at the screen
and your mind is just as blank as it is. Then, you don't want to
write. Been there, done that. More times than I care to remember.

It's like being trapped in the doldrums. That's an area near the
equator that sometimes becomes deceptively calm. It's literally the
calm before the storm. Because that is where and when hurricanes are
often spawned.

Sometimes our lives seem peaceful, but there's a storm brewing. And
if we don't get moving and get out of it's path, we may be devastated.

Now, I don't want to be overly dramatic, but I want to relate this to
our writing. At times it's a chore. Let's face it (to borrow a line
from "A League of Their Own"), "If it were easy, everybody'd be doin'
it." But writing isn't easy and sometimes it's just hard work.

Too often when we encounter a problem we think we must do more, try
harder, pray more, read our Bibles more, be more diligent at church (or in a writers group), or fast. (Now this guy's gone to meddling!) But
what if the answer, the solution we need, isn't about us, what we do?
What if the answer is about what we don't do? What if what we need is
simply to rely more on God? Of course we must do our part, but what
if there's something we're missing?

I challenge us to consider what novelist Jack Cavanaugh calls the God
Factor. I'm going to write, despite my busy schedule. Despite not
knowing everything I could know about "the market." Despite the fact
that I know I could improve my work if I edit it one more time. And
I'm going to submit something before the end of the year. And I'm
going to trust God to take my five loaves and two fish and do what is
humanly impossible. I'm going to trust him to fill my vessels, not a
few. I'm going to write, and submit my work, and trust God for a
harvest, for fruit, for something I can't even imagine.

I hope you'll do the same. And as Chuck Nolan in "Cast Away" said, "I
know what I have to do now.... Because tomorrow the sun will rise.
Who knows what the tide could bring?"

Don't be afraid of success.

Posted courtesy of Jeff Adams. Visit Jeff's blog to hear more encouraging and eye opening words. You may also visit http://www.praisechapelkingman.com/ and follow the links. The first url is interactive for comments, the second has lots more stuff.