From Spirit-Led Writer Magazine:

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“What aspiring writers need to begin and continue writing is unconditional acceptance of their desire to write. And they need to honor that desire. Aspiring writers must understand that if you want to write for an audience, learning to write, just like learning anything else, takes time and that we must be realistic and patient with ourselves while we’re learning.” ~ Louise DeSalvo, Writing as a Way of Healing

What on earth are we writing for, if not to spread His Light and the hope of the Resurrection?

In an Easter message, Doug Goins asks:

“Have you seen the glory of God in the face of Christ? Has God driven back the darkness of sin and unbelief in your life?”

To know the power of Christ, personally, will impact our writing, our worldview, and all our relationships. We become the Master’s artists and scribes, surrendered to Him as pens and brushes in His hands. Why? Because He suffered, died, and rose on our behalf. He broke the bondage of sin and fear in our lives. Only His sacrifice can make us right with God. Have we received this free gift of salvation and newness of life? Have we confessed our neediness and sin and reliance upon Him?

If so, our Light can now shine in a dark world.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s Light.
Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
And all thy days be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
In Him my Star, my Sun;
And in that light of life I’ll walk,
ill traveling days are done.”

(I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, Horatius Bonar & John B. Dykes)

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him, and will dine with him, and he with Me.” ~ Rev 3:20

“That writer does the most for us who brings to our attention thoughts that lay close to our minds waiting to be acknowledged as our own. Such a man acts as a midwife to assist at the birth of ideas that had been gestating long within our souls, but which without his help might not have been born at all.” ~ A.W. Tozer, Man the Dwelling Place of God

“A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?” ~ George Orwell, 1946, English essayist, novelist, & satirist (1903 - 1950)

“Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very’; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.” ~ C. S. Lewis, English essayist & juvenile novelist (1898 - 1963)

“Cut out all those exclamation marks. An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own joke.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (1896 - 1940)

“You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you’re working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success - but only if you persist.” ~ Isaac Asimov, US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 - 1992)

“A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” ~ Thomas Mann, German writer (1875 - 1955)

“To produce a mighty work, you must choose a mighty theme.” ~ Herman Melville, American novelist (1819 - 1891)

“A good style should show no sign of effort. What is written should seem like a happy accident.” ~ W. Somerset Maugham

“For his part, every beauty of art or nature made him thankful as well as happy, and that the pleasure to be had in listening to fine music, as in looking at the stars in the sky, or at a beautiful landscape or picture, was a benefit for which we might thank Heaven as sincerely as for any other worldly blessing.” ~ William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair

“His experience at the publishers had taught him one important truth, and that is that a big subject does not make a big writer, that all that any mind can contribute to the general thought of the world in literature is what is in itself, and if there is nothing in himself it is vain for the writer to go far afield for a theme.” ~ Charles Dudley Warner, That Fortune

“You know who the critics are? The men who have failed in literature and art.” ~ Benjamin Disraeli

“Really it is very wholesome exercise, this trying to make one’s words represent one’s thoughts, instead of merely looking to their effect on others.” ~ Elisabeth Gaskill

“Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn’t matter. I’m not sure a bad person can write a good book. If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for.” ~ Alice Walker

“Art is the only thing you cannot punch a button for. You must do it the old-fashioned way. Stay up and really burn the midnight oil. There are no compromises.” ~ Leonytne Price

“My mother said to me, “If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general; if you become a monk, you’ll end up as the Pope.” Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.” ~ Pablo Picasso

“If you have made mistake…there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start at any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down.” ~ Mary Pickford

“One may have a blazing hearth in one’s soul and yet no one ever come to sit by it. Passersby see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on the way.” ~ Vincent van Gogh

Had I lived in Van Gogh’s time, I would have loved to share a cup of coffee, admire his paintings, and talk about life. This man knew the pain of a “blazing hearth in one’s soul” with no one to take notice. Even now, as I come to terms with his passion, he is long gone.

We live. We write. We wonder.

Does anyone notice? Does anyone care? Will anyone understand?

There is One.

For a calling to be God-sized, it simply has to be a vision that depends on God’s power and resources to succeed.” ~ Kevin Brennfleck, Live Your Calling

More than once, I’ve felt the pressure to write beyond my ability. More than once, I’ve compared my skills to others and trembled. But then I realize our callings are all different. I gain nothing by comparing myself to others except a headache. God only holds me accountable for the gifts and opportunities He’s given me. Never once has He abandoned me in the task.

To answer a God-sized calling, we trust this amazing grace to guide and undergird all that we do. What God lays on my heart, He plans to accomplish through me if I will but trust His enablement.

It’s all grace and His good timing.

“Creativity is not all brainstorms and flashes of insight. Some of it is just plain old work – often joyful, sometimes thrilling, often dull, occasionally excruciating.” ~ Thomas Kinkade

How do your writing projects feel right now?

Joyful? Thrilling? Or, dull and excruciating at the moment?