I suspect that the real quiet center of my life is, in fact, writing…I can’t imagine anything more all-involving or soothing than those rare precious moments when the work is going well.” ~ Francine Prose

Ah, but the work isn’t going so well today. Distractions. Buzzy little bees. Nagging guilt from eating Nachos Bell Grande on the run yesterday. Looming deadlines. So! I’m headed for the torture cell they call a gym. You see, Mr. G. presented me with a month-to-month gym membership as one of my Mother’s Day gifts. Doctor’s orders. Every day I make excuses not to go. But yesterday, something magical happened on the treadmill. Maybe I was under the influence of those mega endorphins, but fresh blood supply to the brain cells can’t hurt. Either way, I’ve discovered another quiet center from which to write—but the treadmill? Who knew?

I’ll be back to post some awesome writing links and interviews! Meanwhile, get those endorphins going!

Tensions and anxieties flame within me the moment I forget I am living my life for the one-man audience of Christ and slip into living my life to assert myself in a competitive world. Previously, my main motivation in life was to do a painting of myself, filled with bright colors and profound insights, so that all who looked upon it would be impressed. Now, however, I find that my role is to be a mirror, to brightly reflect the image of God through me. Or perhaps the metaphor of stained glass would serve better, for, after all, God will illumine through my personality and body.” ~ Philip Yancey

Please welcome Ruth Wood, my new editor at Comfort Cafe. If you haven’t discovered Comfort Cafe yet, you’re in for a treat. This place is a spiritual oasis for women looking for hope, help, and healing for physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges. Visit, bookmark, bring a friend!

Ruth recently issued a call for submissions:

“My vision for Comfort Cafe is to further develop the existing ministry. In particular, I’d like to expand resources and publish more testimonials. Writers, here is your call to share your stories. Feel free to suggest new topics-–our life challenges list certainly is incomplete. For example, one subject not yet covered is infertility. Has God brought special healing and comfort to you in this area? We’d love to hear from you.”

For more info about Comfort Cafe’s editorial needs, feel free to contact Ruth at info@ruthwoodandfriends.com

To learn more about Ruth Wood and Friends, visit here. You’ll be blessed.

Many people dream of being writers. Relatively few ever invest the necessary time and energy to become writers… As with any other kind of art, mastering the literary art takes work. ~ Ethel Herr, Introduction to Christian Writing

Learning the art of writing requires a long apprenticeship and serious dedication. No writer blooms successfully overnight. “It takes ten years of terrible discipline at the desk for a writer to learn to say things clearly,” Bernard DeSoto once said. When I look back at my earlier writings, I cringe. Good literature is never written but re-written, they say. While our words may flow effortlessly at first, they always need some spit and polish.

Serious writers hone their craft through blood, sweat, and tears. We understand this as we become disciples of the art.

We are literature missionaries! While we may never go more than a few hundred miles from our homes, our written words can go around the world and make a difference for all eternity. ~ Marlene Bagnull, Write His Answer

Creativity is part of our nature; we, not the ostrich, have been given the ability to create. God breathes life into our dusty forms. His Spirit, hovers over us, calling to the depths and leading us into abundant living. We are creative because we are made in God’s image.” ~ Alice Bass, The Creative Life

According to Bass, if we’re to enjoy a creative life and experience more of Christ’s inspiration, we need to experience less of our own inhibitions, fears, and sin patterns. How does this translate for you? What blocks your creative flow?

C.S. Lewis made a breakthrough, and today his influence is greater than at the time of his death in 1963. God is looking for a younger Lewis who has a willingness to master written expression, someone who (to rewrite Kipling) can walk with commoners, nor lose the kingly touch; someone who can do with arts and letters what Billy Graham does with the spoken word—shock the world with truth.” ~ Sherwood Eliot Wirt, The Making of a Writer

In rereading The Making of a Writer, this nearly 20-year old book issues a challenge that proves as remarkable today as the day it was published: “The time is ripe for moving into positions of spiritual, intellectual, and cultural leadership in the world, where we become chaplains to the reading public.” Wirt says if we’re to communicate, we have to do better. We have to know our culture. We have to realize that our education is never completed. He suggests that writers who haven’t delved into the likes of Shakespeare, Milton, Pascal, Browning (and others) are impoverished. Pardon me while I brush the dust off my copy of The Brothers Karamazov.

The publishing industry today still needs writers who are committed to the “majesty of truth.” Not easy since we’re up against an alien culture. As a Christ-follower, my writing mandate seems loaded with responsibility. But I love how Sherwood Wirt describes us as “stewards of the mysteries of grace.” If readers become what they read, then writing merely to entertain, to express myself earnestly, or to fill blank pages with beauty and style, will never suffice. Either I write out of vainglory, or I write to evoke something in my reader.

Martin Luther said, “Oh, it is a living, creative, active, mighty thing, this faith!” Author Sherwood Wirt says this is exactly how we ought to think about Christian writing. We have entered the land of literature, the literature of power and grace.

Not only do spoken words cut to the heart, but written ones have the same potential. One of the things that drew me to writing was the powerful impact the writing of others has had on my life. ~ Violet Nesdoly

My friend, Violet Nesdoly is a passionate poet, writer, book reviewer, and prolific blogger. Recently I visited her devotional page for some inspiration, and her words nailed the very reasons that compel me to write in the first place. Words have impact. How many times have we been moved to action by the words of a writer? How many times have our hearts been cut to the core by truth we desperately needed to hear? Violet recalls Acts 2:37 which testifies to this:

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

Violet calls it a miracle –that God can speak through words on a page or computer screen, bringing conviction, faith, and a sense of His presence to readers across the globe. As Christian writers we know the Holy Spirit dwells within, and as Violet reminds us, “deep calls unto deep in the reader.” To always be prepared to give an answer for the hope we have—this is my true calling. We have such treasure in {creative} earthen vessels!

So, with Violet, I pray, “Lord, please use my life, my words to cut to the heart.” Amen.

Stop by Christian Women Online to read A Mother’s Meddling Fingers where Violet Nesdoly is our guest columnist this month.

“Do not follow where the path may lead…Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” ~ Robert Frost

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~ William Wordsworth

Writing, I think, is not apart from living. Writing is a kind of double living. The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once in that mirror which waits always before or behind. ~ Catherine Drinker Bowen, Atlantic, December 1957

When we see a natural style we are quite amazed and delighted, because we expected to see an author and find a man. ~ Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 1670

You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke. ~ Arthur Polotnik

Writing is both mask and unveiling. ~ E.B. White

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author. ~ G.K. Chesterton

One ought only to write when one leaves a piece of one’s own flesh in the inkpot, each time one dips one’s pen. ~ Leo Tolstoy

Alyice at The Dabbling Mum has several great contests, drawings, and giveaways. Be sure to peruse her entire site, especially the contest pages. There’s a photo contest, no-fee essay contest, and free DVD giveaways. Amateur and professional writers welcome. Theme for photo contest is ‘friendship.’ Deadline: June 1, 2006. Ongoing monthly drawings. Deadline for Full House DVD set is May 15, and Nanny McPhee DVD giveaway deadline is May 30th.

For rules and further info, visit Alyice at Essay Writing Contest.

Need to learn how to make more money at writing? Check out The Dabbling Mum’s Writer’s Magazine. Sign up for the free writing E-zine for beginning, intermediate, and veteran writers. Writer’s Digest Magazine selected The Dabbling Mum as 101 Best Websites for Writers in 2005 and 2006! Congrats, Alyice!