When My Muse Won't Let Me Write

Finally, someone admitted it...no...an author admitted it..,they haven't the time for writing. Whew! And I thought I was the lonely, no-writing, wordless author standing alone in a great big room filled with word-swirling, masterpiece creators. 

I let out a great big sigh of relief when I read her confession on our shared blog. As authors, we were asked to share our everyday writing routine with the world (okay, not the world, just our readership). I did that once, two years ago, but asked to do it again? I blushed. 
Writing routine? What routine? Have you seen my Facebook posts lately? When would I have time to sit and write, let alone come up with some pithy, creative stories that inspire? 

You see, like my friend, life has pulled my bottom right off my writing chair the past fourteen months. Between caring for aging and ailing parents, grieving over loved ones passing, welcoming new grandchildren, playing with older grandchildren and tending to my home and husband, there's been little time to sit and breathe, let alone write. All these events experienced one at a time can send you spinning, but many of these events have happened either simultaneously or in direct succession. No sooner had I buried my sister, my father took ill; my father passed and my mother-in-law was admitted for physical rehab on the same day; they discharge my mother-in-law and my newest granddaughter arrived three weeks early. 

Life--all of its sensory experiences--is my muse. We learn, we celebrate, we grow, we move forward, we become who and what we are from life's events. But, when these events piggy back one another their weight multiplies and overloads our senses until the stress breaks us. It's difficult (impossible for me) to extrapolate meaning or inspiration from anything when stress rules. 

Lately, I've battled my place in the writing world; wondered if there ever really was a place or will be a place, because I've lost my way a bit. So, I sink into the worn leather couch cushion by the warm fire in my "Wicked Good" slippers and ask God what on earth he has planned. And you know what his answer is? Rest. Because out of rest comes worship. Out of worship comes creativity. 

So, I chuckle. Rest? Is it time? May I rest? Oh, please, may I rest my weary body and mind? It's been a long, long, long fourteen months of crises. The future is never certain, but for now I see nothing on the horizon. Nothing out of the ordinary. 

Maybe. Just maybe I'll have time to sit and ponder life...the past, the present, the dreams...and write.

 God is my source. Worship is my rest. Life is my muse. What's yours?

Don't Think. Just Write.

"The LORD said to me, 'Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen...'" Isaiah 8:1

From the beginning of time, God commanded his words be written down. He's hard-wired some of us for writing, but we struggle getting started.

Here's what worked for me:

The blank page stared me down, taunted me, challenged me to a duel. "Go ahead. I dare you! Strike this page with ink and scratch your thoughts upon these lines! I. Dare. You."

Early on, that's exactly how my writing practice started. A daily duel between me, my pen and the blank page. Then, I read Madeline L'Engle's memoir, A Rock That is Higher. She grabbed my attention with this tidbit of advice: "Don't think. Just write." She explains, if we think too much about our words while actually writing words, we stop the creative flow of story. As writers, she says, we're allowed to think before writing, think after writing, but never think while in the process of writing. According to L'Engle, over thinking our words deafens us to our inner voice, even God's whispers.

Following her advice transformed my writing process. Before I write anything, I read. I read Scripture, Christian devotionals, and inspirational books or blogs. Reading awakens my brain, feeds my heart and centers my thoughts on God. Here, I'm teachable, inquisitive, questioning, thinking. In the midst of reading, something inspires me, gets me mad, makes me question, starts a dialogue between me, the author and God.

Then, I write.

I. Just. Write. I don't focus on syntax, grammar, punctuation, or voice. It's a tough discipline, especially for perfectionists like me, who scour pages with red pens and cringe at every error. If that's you, too, there's hope. Just. Write.

When my inner voice grows silent, speaks it's last word, then I think, again.

I read and reread my free-hand scrawls searching for a nugget worth sharing. If I find one, my brain goes on high alert and editing begins. Words align into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, paragraphs into a blog entry, a speaking topic, a book chapter, or a children's story idea. I don't publish everything. Some words are best kept to myself. Others are private between God and me.

I. Just. Write. That's what I do. I'm hard-wired that way.

How has God hard-wired you? What form of expression do you find most comfortable?