Sometimes, we don’t know how far we can rise until we’re asked to. – Mary Murphy, So You Think You Can Dance
[Read more…] about How to be a Better Writer: Rise to the Challenge
Writing Life
Find a New Entry Point
Writing about the same topic again and again can feel like approaching a house and always going in through the front door. Find a new entry point. Knock on the screened-in back door. Look for an open window. Climb the trellis to the attic. Start there. [Read more…] about Find a New Entry Point
How to be a Better Writer: Manage the Day
My campus pastor has said that failing to plan is planning for failure. He’s right. Without a plan, you twiddle your thumbs, put your feet up. You go nowhere fast. [Read more…] about How to be a Better Writer: Manage the Day
The Form (and Content) of It
I occasionally play with the form and content of the posts found on this site. Sometimes, it’s a test of reception. I want to know if the writing style or subject matter is welcome even if it’s only welcome by a few. Other times, it’s simply a way to test myself, to explore different ways of saying things, or to think through things such as perfectionism or writing through the ugly middle.
Do the Things that Make Your Soul Grow
My friend Esther frames Vonnegut’s saying differently: do the things that make your soul happy. She and I are quiet for a moment – an oddity for the two of us – and reflect on what her statement means in the context of our conversation. She and I aren’t speaking of a short-term happiness but of a long-term one, one that is rooted in pursuing God and resting in Him.
Writing as Witness
To be a writer is to write on behalf of, even if it’s on the behalf of herself. It’s to bear witness to her own life and to hold it beneath the glare of her writing. It is to study and prod in an attempt to understand – sometimes even when there is no understanding to be found or claimed – and to call attention to something greater than herself. [Read more…] about Writing as Witness