It’s who I am

“What do you do?”  One of the most dreaded questions among writers who don’t, or can’t, write “full-time” as they would like.

Well, I do quite a lot.

What do you do?

This is something Aine Greaney addressed in her book Writer with a Day Job. I think what she said is very affirming, especially for those of us who are still trying to make it out of the gates:

“As a nine-to-five employee, you may be inclined to define yourself by your day job. ‘I’m an accountant.’ ‘I’m in advertising.’ ‘I’m an executive assistant.’ There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s what you do. Just make sure that you also define yourself as a writer. Go on. Take a deep breath and make yourself say it, ‘I’m a writer.’”

I read the passage above one Sunday morning before church. And while I appreciated what she said, it didn’t satisfy me – my meal was missing the dessert.

She said to “define yourself” as a writer. That changes the question for me from “What do you do?” to “Who are you?”

With a little exasperation, I said to God, “I don’t feel like I even know who I am anymore. I’m almost 45… Is this what it’s like when people have a mid-life crisis?”

He nipped my mini-rant in the bud tout de suite. Not more than 2 hours later at church we sang a song called “Blameless” by Dara Maclean. If you’ve never heard it before, you can Google the title and listen to it on YouTube. I hope you will take a couple of minutes to listen to the song - it's powerful.

By the time we got to the first chorus I couldn’t sing anymore. It was all I could do not to sob uncontrollably.

That’s who I am – I am Yours!

from Fotolia by denis_pc

And that’s who you are, too. If you have received Jesus’ gift of salvation and call Him LORD, you are His. Because of His blood, we are blameless, forgiven, righteous and free.

Free to walk the path our LORD and Savior has set before us. Free to serve Him through glorious, wonderful words. What an honor and a privilege.

So when someone asks, “What do you do?,” please feel free to tell them you are a writer, as I will, let’s just always remember that writing is what we DO for the Lord, it’s not WHO we are. Live free in Jesus today!

Humbly submitted by H.T. Lord

Freedom: my second favorite reason to write

My second favorite thing about writing is the freedom. 



From graphicstock.com

Maybe freedom is the wrong word. I think what I like is the control. The freedom to be in control, maybe? There is so much in my life over which I have little to no control. It’s just plain fun to dig into the adventures of someone else, even if it is someone I made up.

When it comes to my stories I have complete control. I have control of my characters’ actions, their words and what happens to them in the end. In my stories I can always have the bad guy get his or her comeuppance, as it should be.

I can even control the kind of world they live in. If I want a world with purple cows that produce green milk that tastes like cherries, I can do that. Although I don’t think I ever would. That’s very strange, even for me.

Anyway, I think I’ve made my point – writing gives the writer the freedom to do and create whatever he or she wants. And yet… there are still rules, aren’t there? Without them we wouldn’t know what freedom is or isn’t.

Strangely I don’t find rules constraining in my writing, annoying, yes, but not defeating. I find they make me more creative. Without something to overcome, there is no opportunity to become stronger. It’s in the conflict that we find the story, whether it’s ours or a character’s that we have created.

It kind of sounds like I’m confident in myself and my ability as a writer, a creator, but I’m not really. It is only in Jesus that I am truly confident, and for that matter, free. In Christ, I am free from the fears and insecurities that would prevent me from even trying to write. Without Him I can do nothing. With Him I am free to be all He made me to be, and so are you. How cool is that?

Humbly submitted by H.T. Lord

A few of my favorite things… about writing

I thought I wind down 2014 by talking about four of my favorite things about writing:

1.       Closeness

2.       Freedom

3.       Research

4.       Sharing

My absolute, number one, most favorite thing about writing is how close it brings me to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It sounds strange but in a way, writing is an act of worship for me. There are times when it almost feels like He’s sitting beside me, and in those times my writing shows it.

Being creative with THE Creator is mind blowing, isn’t it? And the idea that He also wants to be creative with me is almost too much to take in. But the fact remains that God did not withhold even His son to make a way for us to have a relationship. Don’t even think He hasn’t done that for you, too, because He has. He has given the gift of Himself to all of us, all of us who will turn away from sin and receive Him instead.

So, yeah, writing is one of the ways I connect with God. No matter how I try, I cannot separate my spiritual journey from my journey as a writer. They are so intricately woven together they can’t be considered two different things.  One feeds off the other and vice versa.

I have around nine or so stories bouncing around in my head at any given time, and half of them were inspired by scripture and/or while I was at church worshipping or listening to a sermon. Of course, my listening pretty much stops until I can find a piece of paper to write down what just popped into my head.

Once I actually caught myself shushing my pastor during service because his incessant talking was interrupting my train of thought.  I know. I’m terrible. But I get so inspired in God’s presence, and if I don’t write it down I forget. Our youngest daughter has autism and I’m constantly shushing her during service so as far as anyone around us was concerned, things were just status quo, unless, of course, they read this blog entry.

The Book of James, chapter 4, verse 8a says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” It is clearly to my advantage, and to future readers of my stories, that I draw near to God when I settle down to write. It is also my preference for I am fully aware that I do nothing very well without Him. But with Him, all things are possible.

Humbly submitted by H.T. Lord
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