A Time for Honesty

(Note: All photos with this post are from my forest floor yard.)


Okay, Why haven’t I been writing already?

Depression, that’s why.

And where did the depression come from?

Ugh! From a finished project.

Can you believe that? It was just the most amazing thing to finally complete the book I had been working on for so long, but the joy lasted about two minutes. After printing off nearly a ream of paper and sticking the entire work in a box and mailing it to the publisher, I suddenly felt like a mother who had given birth to a baby that she barely glimpsed before someone snatched it away.

Talk about post-partum depression. Goodness!

So………

I’m trying to get myself going again, while I’m waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting . . .

But don’t we all know that a good deal of the writing life is about waiting? And of course, it doesn’t help that I visited a fellow writer’s blog to discover that she quit her corporate career two years ago and has published six books since that time. Six books!

While I wait . . . and wait . . . and wait . . .

And while I wait, I begin to think it was a silly thing to think I could do anything meaningful with words.

Okay, I’ve written some articles and sent them in, but I just can’t seem to muster the courage to tackle my WIP. It sits untouched on my desk, like a bad omen waiting to reveal itself. Do I have what it takes to turn that WIP into something good?

So, I hedge. I paint instead. Switching from pastels to oils, I find freedom in splashing enormous gobs of color across the canvas. And I remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some will not find beauty in my splashes, but some will. Those who mock, can glimpse and pass with or without comment, while those who find beauty can stop and enjoy.



It’s the same with my writing. There is an audience out there waiting to read my words…an audience who will understand wonder and discovery, who want to look deep beneath the surface and examine the past before hurling into the future, an audience who still cling to hope and the belief that each person has purpose.

So, while I wait, I will write. And perhaps these words will help others who are waiting as well. Whether the waiting will produce a contract or a decline, we need to encourage one another to stir up the gifts God has given us.

Be encouraged friend!

If you’ve sent something out, go celebrate! That is a big accomplishment. Simply getting something in the mail is worth a reward.

And now it’s time to plan and begin a new project so the waiting won’t be so difficult. God is faithful. He will accomplish His work at just the right time.