Into the Fire

Such a word. A response. Straightforward. No frills. A simple no. Wow.

Have trouble saying it? Many do. They fill their lives up with stuff they don’t want to do because they said they would. They couldn’t say no.

Even when sometimes it’s the best answer. Granted it can be the totally wrong answer, too. When yes is the best, and we answer no, guilt and regret force their way into our psyches and make us mad at ourselves or at the person to whom we gave the wrong answer.

Like most of you who come here, I visit a multitude of blogs and read a lot of opinions about writing. When they get to be so repetitive about the same old methodology for writing to get published, I find myself murmuring to myself: No.

No. There isn’t just one way to write. There are many. It’s a creative process and limiting it to a series of over-emphasized methods and means to tell a story grates on me like a buzz saw sound.

I understand the need for instruction, especially for those writers who are beginning the journey. I’m a firm believer that some things are inherent in natural writers and what they need to learn will transpire through a lot of reading and experimentation with their writing. Call it osmosis, call it transcendence, call it whatever you will. A writer will find his voice and will learn whatever grammar he must to be able to nail down a story. His first one may not be his best, but his skill set will be evident, and he will say yes to the instruction which fits his writing and confidently learn when to say no to that which does not apply to his style.

Now it’s a fine line between really being a writer and really thinking we’re a writer. Sometimes we’re wrong. We believe in our work, we have this full-blown dream, we persevere, we apply our learning, we make every effort to produce a good product. And we fail. And not just once. We fail to become a real writer. Oh, we can write some highlights, but the bulk of our stories are not written well. Our characters lack realism. Our dialogue is stilted and filled with unnatural sentences. We’ve eliminated adverbs, we’ve even used lots of verbs, and we think it sounds pretty good overall. But it doesn’t. And it’s possible not to see it because there are books published which read just like the one we wrote. And that’s a fact.

It’s tough to say no to ourselves. Easier to say no to someone else.

There are times to say no. But you gotta decide when that it is.

Father, you are our director. You want us to know and understand your plans for us. Help us to listen and discern what you want us to do, not for us but for you. For your glory, for the pleasure of pleasing you. Help us to say yes to you and no to that which conflicts with your design. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.