Would you like to be a prolific writer? One who can toss off an article a day, or when the need arises, within an hour or two? Then allow me to suggest one new daily activity to add to your life starting right now.
Recently my friend Kathy, who took a job in the city, and has become extra busy, told me she misses this activity something fierce when she doesn't have time for it. "It seems," she told me, "I can't really sort out my feelings or express myself until I've done this each morning."
I too, tried to do without out for a while this fall, thinking I'd become rather dependent on it, and should grow up and manage without it. Didn't work. Like a homesickness, it pulled me back.
Back in 1975 I yearned to be a writer, and took out books from the public library on writing, which I read by the hour at my receptionist job. There were long stretches where nothing happened at that desk, so when I read about the importance of writers journaling I was gungho to try it.
Only catch was, I felt foolish writing to no one in particular; felt like I was talking aloud to myself. At that time I was working through a disappointment by talking it over with God in prayer, so I picked up a wad of sheets I was suppose to garbage, turned them over and started telling the Lord all my feelings.
A wonderful sense of seeing my problems from God's perspective came over me. It all looked clearer and I knew what to do next.
But I was erratic at this new approach, and did not really make it a firm daily habit until 1977. By that time, not only was it helping me see my life more clearly from God's perspective, He was dialoguing with me, and that my writing had improved. My spelling too, and grammar. Even a sense of when to break into a new paragraph developed. There were times I thought of it fondly as my lovely addiction. It was hard to forget any more!
Innumerable books on writing all advise journaling as a way for break a writer's block, and to train yourself to let words, sentences, and thoughts flow whenever you want to say something, orally or in written form. (Yes, it smoothes and improves your speech patterns too).
(Do you wince at your journals becoming books? As long as you're alive you can say "no").
Since today is the start of the rest of your life, to begin one of the best ways of turning prolific.
1. Resolve sincerely to set aside a block of time when you are at your best, to write in a prayer journal. It doesn't have to be more than 15-30 minutes at the beginning. Later on you'll crave for more and find ways to get it.
2. Purchase a notebook, or prepare a binder with ruled paper, and find a safe, handy place to keep it so that you don't have to fret about it falling into the hands of anyone else. Keep a Bible handy there too.
3. If it's to be early in the morning, go to bed at a sensible time, and simply ask the Lord to help you keep the appointment you have with Him.
4. Give yourself permission to be totally honest in your journal. Start by telling God exactly how you feel about Him. When it is complimentary, you are in fact, worshipping Him. If you feel unsure or full of questions, spill it out in that journal, but write as if you are addressing God.
5. When you fill one notebook or binder, archive it in a safe, dry place, and start the next one. The time will come when you have boxes full of these, but don't re-read them right away. Wait a few years, and then go back over them. That's when you'll be astonished to read lots of meaning between the lines, and how your writing has a style and flare all of your own. Your spelling and grammar and handwriting will all show great improvement, and best of all - you'll have an intimate relationship with God Himself, the Creator of all the universe.
Back to Writing/Publishing (index).
Ruth Marlene Friesen
The Responsible One
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Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada