Resurrecting a Writer

That’s worthless writing. You’ve got to be kidding me! You think you’re a writer? Ha! And on and on the verbal attacks hurl destructive words that stop a writer. 

Do you relate? It’s a wonder we get any writing done.

But what do you do when you believe God has called you to write? Do you allow the verbal war to continue? If so, it can be exhausting! How do you give words the breath and life they deserve, and resurrect them from the grave like a long lost buried treasure?

Read along as I share one woman’s story to wield her pen:

As a young girl, perhaps 9 or 10 years of age, this woman received a little pink diary for Christmas embellished with a golden lock and key. Oh, how she loved the clean pages and awaited the new year to begin penning her precious private thoughts. She’d write, and then lock up her words.

In high school, she shifted to the love of creative writing. Freedom. Expression. Create with words, what fun. Surprisingly, she won the high school creative writing award her senior year. But, her grammar teacher thought otherwise, and filled her papers with red checkmarks. This teacher was impossible to please, so why try? she thought.

Then off to college she went. Her writing took a hard hit in the freshmen composition class. Those red checkmarks appeared again! Then computers came off the conveyor belt and she didn’t type fast. But she loved paper and pen, so they became her instruments.

The most frustrating attacks against her writing came next from a trusted loved one. You write with too much detail! You write too personally! You need to change the way you write! These attacks began shortly after they married. Years later they adopted two precious daughters at birth. Every December, for 20 years, she wrote letters to send to the adoption agency for each of the girl’s birthmothers to read if they chose. She included snippets of how the girls had grown and what they did over the year. And she dreaded her naysayer’s scrutiny and his negative comments, you write too detailed, too personally, and you need to change the way you write.

With years of criticism, she interpreted her husband’s words to believe, she didn’t know how to write, even though she was an educator. 

When she entered her forties, she sensed a career shift and heard the call to coach, speak, teach, and write on behalf of the needs of hurting women. So now what was she to do? Me-Write? You have got to be kidding? God, did I hear you correctly?

And so she began, restoring the lost creative craft of writing. Devouring Julia Cameron’s teaching in The Artist Way, she wrote morning pages daily, on three notebook-sized pages, with a pen. Picture a brain dump session with pen and paper. First thing every morning she lets the naysaying editor in her mind rip and whip her writing apart, but it doesn’t boss her. She writes, she wins, and she brings the words out and onto paper. The key is to allow her words freedom, without bowing to the critical editor. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, she writes. Her thoughts shift to truth. She believes she can write because of the practice of the morning pages. The negative hounding diminishes.

Think of morning pages as free therapy to unearth all the pain and lies when an individual, like this woman, survives an abusive environment where emotional pain pierced her heart and soul daily.

From a love to write in her little pink diary, to writing letters, to books, God wastes nothing if we remain moldable. You see, I am that woman, who kept picking up my pen daily for over seven years to write morning pages. But the credit goes to my Creator. He kept me in a position of needing Him and of being close to Him as I remained on the Potter’s wheel when I wanted to jump off. Truly, His call is worth the work to transform pain to purpose. 

If you’re stuck in toxicity, grief or loss, then join me. Buy your pen and notebooks—and get started today to change your writing career with morning pages. It’s time to bring the writer to the surface.

Question:  Do you have a buried treasure of words waiting for the world to read? What’s been holding you back?