Writers and Parents
As Christian writers, many of the principles we apply to strengthen our writing can also sharpen our quality of life. And as busy, oft-interrupted writers, sometimes it helps to be reminded of our priorities, our greatest “works in progress”. Our children.
If our children were books, how best would we fill them?
Inspiration
What inspires us as parents? Are we raising our arrows up to shoot straight and far when they reach adulthood, or are we letting things slide to make time for our own pursuits? I’m continually failing in this area. When this happens, and I realize, oh man, I’m doing it again–letting writing take precedence over my relationships–it’s amazing how some time spent with God can rightly renew my priorities. Hang on to your inspiration. Seek God’s will on how to juggle it all. Stick to the plan for your family, and the writing time/magic will come.
Start your day right. Pray.
Prayer is my elastic. It enables me to stretch from task to task each day. As a homeschooling mom, with many duties other than teacher/mom/wife calling my name, I could easily reach 5 pm and have started and stopped a dozen things without completing any of them. When I start my day with prayer, just as when I start my writing with prayer, it’s amazing what God helps me accomplish. I can’t afford to hit the snooze button, just as I can’t afford to waste time staring at a blank screen. Praying for clarity and help to get it all done, really multiplies the quality of my time. And He tells us, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask.”
Show don’t tell.
This is probably the most repeated hint to new writers…show don’t tell. Think how appropriate it is for us as parents. Our actions speak, and our children are listening. Is what we’re telling them lining up with what we do? Flat Christianity is about as appealing as a book full of telling. Just as we want the lives of our characters to jump off the pages and into readers’ hearts, we also want our faith to zing the five senses, to explode to fruition, to change and affect the lives of those most dear to us.
Critiques
Critique groups, rewriting, rejection slips, more rewriting…isn’t it just like real life? We’re the better for it, usually. The bad experiences, the suffering (undeserved and deserved) grow us, season us, help us to be the people God can use for His glory. Use the hard times in your child’s life to showcase this. Embrace the hurt feelings as an opportunity to develop sympathy for others in similar situations. Of course, hold them, let them cry or vent, whichever is their style, and later in a time of non-conflict, talk it out. Help them to understand that their pain sweetens them, makes them a more understanding, better person.
Facing those giants.
We’ve all got giants in our lives. For you, it may be a deadline. For your child, it may be a fear or a learning disability or sin. There will be times of success and times of failure. Whatever it is, we’ve got to keep on praising God, dust ourselves off and stay the course.
It’s our calling, and time is short. When God writes The End to this chapter of our lives, will our WIPs stand the final edits?
