WHAM … Everything Stops

I need to be honest with you … I’ve been working on a writing project for a couple of weeks, but the topic refuses to cooperate. This is how the process has gone: I think the ideas are coming together just right. I’m feelin’ the flow … feelin’ the love …
then WHAM … Everything stops.

I regroup, step back, and take a breath. I let it sit–let the thoughts perk for a few hours–then return to the computer, hoping a fresh perspective will get the flow back.

But I get nothin’

I talk with my husband and my friends, hoping a morsel from our conversations will align all the stars in what I’ve been keystroking. A glimmer of an idea surfaces. Maybe THIS will be the glue that pulls it all together. I start writing again … again, feeling the flow, the love, yada-yada …

Then WHAM … everything stops again. Nothin’. I feel like I’m Charlie Brown and Lucy is holding my football with the promise, “Really, Charlie Brown, I won’t pull the ball out from under you THIS time …”

The 50,000 words sitting on my bookshelf looked good in my mind. After writes and re-writes, I’ve decided to leave it there. It’s not mishmashed per se, but it isn’t what was trying to burst from my brain, either.

I Know You Get It

To all my writer friends, I know you get it. I’m guessing most of you have your own half-written blog posts, works in progress, or stacks of research calling your name.  You have a shelf … a banker’s box … a file on your hard drive labeled, “Not Yet”. We get it. Creativity cannot be forced.

But it can be fostered.

A lesson good writers learn early is to be a good writer, you need to read. I enjoy writing. I enjoy reading what I write. But if it isn’t flowing, stressing over what’s on my computer screen will not make the story come together any faster. I need to give myself permission to step back, re-charge my batteries, and allow the process to happen. God even told Elijah in 1 Kings 17 to beat-feet it from where he was, hide east of the Jordan, and allow the ravens to feed him for a season.

What’s the Next Step

if you read my earlier post, Word For the Year, you saw I landed on remembering to focus. I’m excited about writing, but I’m more excited about doing it right; doing it in a focused manner. When that happens, everything in my world flows like honey. I know my obedience to focusing on what God has for me brings that flow.

Jesus teaches us how to be focused on what we need to do in Hebrews 12:2: fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

My project will come together in good time if I focus. I might not experience whams … but I’m okay with living a non-wham existence.