Why you should use your God-given talent for writing.

Why writers need to write. 

"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others,
faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." (1 Peter 4:10 NIV)

I will be the first to admit that I have times when I don't feel like a writer.  I don't think I can find the time, I feel too stressed out, my house is dirty, I'm too tired... the list could go on forever.  I use them to justify the simple fact that I am not writing, but yet I call myself a writer.  So what's wrong with taking a break?  What's wrong with putting it off?  I can always pick it back up when the time is right.  Or when I feel like it. I used to think like that. Not anymore.

In my earlier years of writing, I joined RWA, ACFW, became very active in a few writer's groups, a critique group, and co-founded a writer's chapter.  I bought self-help books on point of view, characterization, dialogue, editing and lots of research books to help me write.  I studied the craft. I read books in my genre, always careful to study how other successful writers were doing it. I immersed myself in writing and I wasn't going to give up until I was published.  I thought once I was published, I wouldn't have to work so hard. 

Once a writer, always a writer

I published my first e-book in 2010 called Southern Comfort, with Pelican Book Group.  I had worked for many years to get a publisher's approval.  Once it finally happened, it validated that I AM a writer.  I now had an official writing credit to my name. I would forever be a writer. Even if I wasn't writing. Like many writers, I have a full-time job. I teach second grade. If you think that doesn't kill your creativity at the end of the day, I'm here to tell you it does! But add to that, the fact that I have a son in sports and an autoimmune disease, and I can rack up a million excuses why I don't have time to write or I don't feel like it.  I eased my mind by telling myself I wasn't going to stress over it.  I thought the talent would be there when I was ready to use it so I would just wait until the time was right.  Boy, was I wrong. 

Use it or lose it

In 2014, after taking a break from rough drafts, edits and rejections, I decided to submit again.  I was ultimately rejected.  I realized that I had been out of the game way too long and had jumped back in without so much as a warmup.  I had lost it. I was back to square one. I hadn't read a self-help book in ages and I had dropped my memberships to my writer's groups. I had stopped promoting my book and the royalty checks had stopped coming in.  I will admit, life threw a few obstacles in my way and my family always comes first, but looking back, I know I could've kept writing.  I should've kept writing. I didn't have to quit.  I was under the impression the talent would always be there and now I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong.  I began to pray and that's when I realized how  totally backwards my thinking had been. 

I found a blog written by Rick Warren and it really spoke to me. He wrote about how risky it is for us to not use our God-given talents.  This doesn't only pertain to writers, but to every single person no matter what your job is.  We each have a talent.  It is up to us to use it and perfect it.  We are to use that talent to serve others.  If we don't, God can and will take that talent away from us to give to someone who will use it. I had never thought about it like that before, and it made me realize how close I had come to losing mine.  

I am not implying that writers should never take a break.  We all need mental breaks from anything we do.  It's healthy and it's a good way to stay focused.  What I am saying is that staying away too long can be harmful to our talents.  I'm now trying to do something related to my writing every single day.  Whether that's posting to this blog (which I still think I'm a terrible blogger!) or working on research for a new book, I'm going to do something to hone my writing skills daily.  I thank God for blessing me with the desire and talent for writing. I don't want to take one day of it for granted.  

Sites:
Warren, Rick. "Making the Most of your Talents." RickWarren.com. 21, May 2014. Web. 20 July, 2015. 

Keeping up with the times or Getting left behind

How the internet has changed my writing

I've been writing for a long time.  Longer than I care to admit.  I started writing when the internet was just beginning to take off.  I know for some people, I think they call you millennials,  it's hard to imagine writing a manuscript and physically having to put it in the mail to send to an editor. I remember the knots in my stomach as I waited for a reply from the post office.  That tiny pink slip of paper in the mailbox telling me to come pick up a package.  Which always meant a rejection.  

Yeah, those days were rough.  Driving home from the post office through a veil of tears was no easy feat.  Now, we just check our smart phones or tablets wherever we are, and we get to see that big R in the middle of the grocery store or the doctor's office.  Talk about a sucker punch! Technology has changed a lot of things for writers over the years.  From the way we communicate with editors and readers, to how we get those rejections and The Call.  I like change.  I really do, but some of these changes have let me floundering in a sea of social media, blog posts, tweets and emails.  Getting on board has felt more like being dragged behind.  So where does one start? I don't think anyone has a real answer to that question.  At least not an answer that fits us all.  

I hope you're not reading this to learn something, because frankly, I haven't got any ground-breaking advice on how to tackle the world of author self-promotions on the internet.  But I'm not totally technically challenged, either.  I can make a website, tweet, post, share, tag and blog (okay, I'll admit I'm not great at blogging).  The hard part is knowing when to do what, how often to do it, and is it effective? The last thing a writer wants to do is waste time.  So, what is too much?  I guess only you can answer that question.  If you're spending more time on the internet than on your manuscript, then it's probably too much.  If you've just sold a great book, I'd say get out there promote like crazy.  I equate this algorithm to the one for losing weight.  Eat less=lose weight.  Yeah, it's simple like that.  

Writers analyze too much. We think too much.  We think too much about how we over-analyze and over-think things.  We're introverts and introspective by nature so jumping on the bandwagon has been hard on some of us.  What I do know is that writing should be fun.  Submitting manuscripts should be fun.  Stress is not.  I for one am tired of stressing about what to tweet about, blog about, post about, etc.  I'm just jumping in and having fun with it.  Life is too short to stress out all the time. I'm going to go enjoy and use the talents God has blessed me with, and I hope you do the same.

"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." (1 Peter 4:10 NIV)

Next blog post: Why should we use our talents faithfully and without fear?