So today I had a thought. (Before anyone gets funny, let's be clear - this is not my first thought, nor I assume my last. It was just one bearing additional thought)
Actually, I had two ideas. Both pertian to writing. Both somehow, hopefully, will add to my "wealth" of human resources for being a writer.
First, I remembered writing for NaNoWriMo last year. For anyone who does not know, this is a month-long writing session during which a writer attempts to put 50,000 words on paper in 30 days. It is a huge thing. Cool Web site (www.nanowrimo.com) and features opportunity for youth to get involved.
Last year I attempted it. If I remember correctly I got a bit over 15,000 words. This was with working full-time, short-staffed (read 70 hours a week). I did take a week-long vacation house sitting for friends at a wonderful lakefront house. I did write some. I mostly tried to remember I was human and how to breath and function.
At the time I was the editor of a paper and one of my reporters brought the NaNoWriMo to my attention. She suggested enlisting readers of the paper to a group of folks who would participate in the November event. She kept track of everyone and asked for updates on their progress for weekly stories.
It was fun. Most wrote under pen names, as most of us are really closet writers and afraid of someone telling us what we are writing is not worthy of the ink we used to create it.
Most made decent progress, one succeeded in completing the task.
Anyway, today I thought it might be fun to try this with the Pine Bluffs Post. There have to be some closet writers who are looking for a way to start out and get something written, even if they don't meet the overall goal.
I also had another thought. I am seriously considering starting a writers group here for eastern Laramie County. I need to ask around and organize. (Maybe this is another way of procrastinating? Hope not)
Anyway, I know I am writing what God wants me to. The boss told me he can read the difference and knows my passion when comparing my church page columns and the other stories I write for the paper.
That didn't offend me. I know it is true. I can string sentences together, make the story tell itself and not have any feeling in it at all. It is a good story. It does the job. But those who know me know I did not invest any of my self in it.
I am good with a well-crafted story void of my heart. As long as it is not on the church page. There I want to see not only my heart, but God's. I keep promising myself that I will write the weekly offering on Friday or over the weekend, trying to beat what has become a normal 'deadline' of Wednesday morning (publication day). Can't be done. God is in this and He moves in my heart when He moves in my heart. Not a word is written until He deems it is time. That is fine with me. Then I know it is not about me, it is about Him.
That is the way I want all my writing to be. Whether I ever finish a novel or not. Whether I ever have something published outside a newspaper or not. Whether or not I start a writing group, or even attend one. Whether or not I ever reach 50,000 words in the month of November.
It's not about me. It's about Him.
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