My writing process

 

Every morning, as soon as I wake up, one of my first thoughts is what am I going to write? Most of the time, a thought comes to me right (unintended pun: write/right, lol) then. I quickly pour my coffee, sit down at my laptop, and away I go.

     Other times I have to go through several Bible verses before I find one that speaks to me. Then, once in a blue moon, no words seem to come at all. Those are the days that I feel kind of empty like the Holy Spirit stepped away and left me alone to fend for myself. 

     I know He didn't, but I think those days serve an important purpose. They remind me that my words come from Him, that I am dependant on Him, and that sometimes, I need to ask Him for help - even though He knows what I need.

     This isn't to say that my words are God-breathed, but I think it's safe to say (and hopefully doesn't come across as boastful in any way - I'm not perfect and am very aware of that) they are God-inspired. I trust that whatever I write, God will use it to reach at least one person. I trust that it will be the exact thing that someone needs to read today.

     The Holy Spirit lives within each of His children. If He is such an integral part of our being, shouldn't we take the time to build a relationship with Him? Study the Bible and get to know His character. Ask God to reveal His presence to you. 

     Maybe you read about my big God experience, but in case you missed it, you can read it here: Faith as a mustard seed.

Luke 12:12 speaks to me (and to you):

The Holy Spirit will give you the words to say at the moment when you need them. (The Voice)

 For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” (NKJV)

You may also like:

- "Using our spiritual gifts" (update on this: I'm still writing her story and all of the other people's stories that God has brought to me. It's taking a lot longer than I anticipated. Stay tuned, though.)

- "Waiting for words"

Or click here for all my posts about writing 

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Please join me this week in praising the Holy Spirit. Pray that those who consider themselves Christians yet bear no fruit come to question whether the Spirit is living within them. Let's pray that if they are not yet truly saved, they seek Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Let's pray that if they are saved, they grow in their faith and strive to become more Christlike. May we recognize those who are living on either cusp and offer them discipleship. Pray for words, encouragement, and guidance to help those who are lost. 

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @7DegreesOfMe
Pinterest Prayer Group #7thHourPrayerPower

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

#7thHourPrayerPower #bibleverse #bible #HolySpirit #Christian #amwriting #comfort #discipleship #wisdom #fruitofthespirit #bearfruit #amediting

Waiting for words

Words just don't seem to be coming to me this week. Everything I start to write comes out sounding preachy or pessimistic so I figure it's best to just post the bible verses for the time being. When I do that, though, then I feel kind of empty like I'm just phoning it in; I like to share and be open with all of you. 

     I was thinking it could be because I'm back at work now and haven't settled back into my old routine, but maybe it's because I decided to try submitting to magazines again using stories from my autobiography that I wrote a few years ago and realize that the writing is just awful and I basically have to start all over again if I want to use any of it, but, I'm pretty sure that's not part of God's plan for me. However, I can't seem to let it go, but I really, really need to.

     I need patience with myself during this crazy time of trying to be flexible with daily changes due to the pandemic. It's a very unsettling time; there is no 'normal' to rely on, therefore there's no 'plan,' which I have a very difficult time with. There's a sense of security in plans. God has a plan for me, though, and for all of us, so there is security in that. 

     Huh. Look at that. I wrote three paragraphs, worked through (loosely) what my hang-up was, and illustrated patience in that it took me a really long time to write just this little bit. I know God's plan for me, I just need a little nudge once in a while. He remains forever patient with me and I'm extremely thankful for that.

For I know the plans I have for you, 

declares the Lord, 

plans for welfare and not for evil, 

to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV 

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Please join me this week in praying for patience both for ourselves and others. 

 

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27
Pinterest Prayer Group #7thHourPrayerPower

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Using our spiritual gifts

Use your spiritual gifts for the edification of the church body

One of the things God is leading me to do is to write down other women's stories. I'm extremely excited about it especially because I've spent the last nine years working on writing my story and have always felt that it was not what God wanted me to do, so now I get why. ... Okay, so I was going to leave this next part out, but then decided, Nah - so if you want to debate this, go for it, but I don't feel like it - this is just my opinion ... This is how I see free-will versus God's plan. I had the freedom to choose to write my story because it was something I really, really wanted to do, so I did it, feeling that it wasn't part of God's plan for me, so He let me go down that 9-year-long rabbit trail that led nowhere for my own personal satisfaction and then He posted a detour sign that brought me back to His path for me. Isn't that just awesome?!
     I thought about bringing up this new venture in our women's bible study group Sunday morning but then decided against it until I was closer to being ready to start, till I was more organized, etc. In our group we were talking about judgment (Romans) and that we're all sinners and to never forget our own testimonies, our own past and someone said, "We each have a story to tell" and I realized that if that wasn't God telling me to share, then I don't know what else it could've been, so I shared.
     One of the women who I had in mind to interview anyway came up to me after group and said that her brother has been telling her for years that she should write down her story. That about knocked me over and I said "I would love to write it," so that's my first project and I'm super psyched about it! I can't wait to get started!!!
     Then, the sermon started out about we should be for each other, not ourselves (so I took that as writing about others instead of myself - another 'whoa' moment!). Then, the sermon went on to talk about some of the same things we were talking about in women's group even though it was a different subject, it still touched on the same things we were discussing which seems to happen a lot whenever we study, but I guess this is probably enough sharing for today.
     To bring this back around to our topic for this week, our Pastor had a few stories about other churches and it's really heartbreaking, so encouragement, lifting each other up, growing the church through mission work circled back around (in my thought process) to growing, caring, and maintaining the churches we have here at home. So, if you're part of a church that seems to be slipping in attendance, consider praying about how you can use your spiritual gifts to help heal the church body.

What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

1 Corinthians 14:26 ESV

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Please join me this week in praying for the healing and growth of our local churches.

I'll post daily reminders on:

twitter @7DegreesOfMe

Instagram @archadia27

Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Attention Writers - Finishing School

I participated in a 10-day writing challenge in December and won a scholarship to attend a 7-week group coaching program Finishing School which begins this Wednesday (January 10th, 2017). It's all online except for a one day retreat in Covington, Kentucky (which can be attended virtually). I'm really excited about this program and anticipate finally finishing my novel that's been several years in the making. The program is developed by Kelly Thomas, owner of Kelly Grace, LLC. She's very hands-on, extremely knowledgeable, and so very inspiring.
If you have a book in the works and want to sign up for this experience, Kelly will honor the early-bird price of $325 until January 15, 11:59 pm EST if you list "Seven Degrees of Me" as a reference. Please email her kgracethomas@gmail.com with any questions.
http://www.kgracewrites.com/finishing-school/

Camp Nanowrimo 2017 Last Day

I spent much of last week pushing myself to make my goal of re-writing 30,000 words of my first novel. It was a difficult month and I've decided that while editing is the most important process of writing, it's also not as fun as the initial write-everything-that-pops-into-my-head. Others see it differently; they enjoy editing. I need to get to that point. The important thing is that I worked on it every day, and met a goal. I need to have that same goal for this month, and the next month. Maybe then I'll be ready to send it out to beta readers. The problem is, there's no certificate, or badge, or t-shirt at the end of the next two months. I need those small motivators, however piddly they seem to be. I ordered my t-shirt and winner's badge at the beginning of April, and they arrived within a week. I've kept them in their unopened package this whole time until I "won" the month. It's what's kept me working. If I hadn't won, then I'm not sure what I would've done, so it wasn't an option.

So, my little hiatus here is over and I want to get back to blogging several times a week and sharing bible verses every day. I want to step it up a notch and support local artists, businesses, etc., and will have a few "opinions" to share about the world in general. Subscribe to my blog by email so you don't miss anything.
Have a blessed Mayday.

Writing for Transformation

Left to Right: Omope Carter Daboiku, Grace Curtis,

Furaha Henry-Jones, Melody Moezzi

Writing for Transformation

43rd Annual Writers' Workshop

Sinclair Community College

    Today I attended this amazing workshop funded/presented by the English Department at Sinclair Community College. Furaha Henry-Jones headed the event, bringing together the awe-inspiring talent of Melody Moezzi, Author and Keynote speaker, Omope Carter Daboiku, Storyteller and Memorist, and Grace Curtis, Poet. 

     These wonderful, wonderful women have, in one short afternoon, totally changed my outlook on writing, and maybe even in how I think and look at life. They are bold, brave, courageous women who are actively living the lives they want to live. To someone like me, who has been feeling old and "stuck" in my current life lately, hearing them was like being granted permission to change my current path; they all shared a common thread of advice: "do what you want to do, be who you want to be." I needed to hear that, to be given that permission. 

     My notes look as if I attended a motivational seminar instead of a writing workshop, but I believe the two go hand in hand. Every writer, that is every person who writes (I write, therefore I am a writer!) goes through this emotional roller coaster. We can be on a writing streak, loving every word, every syllable, shedding tears of joy at the genius of our prose, and then, BOOM! BAM! ZWING! the tears become pools of self-berated despondency at the horrible, sickening, disgusting garbage we've slung at the page, daring to think of it as literature, miserable in the belief that there is no creativity, no talent; it was just wishful thinking. We decide to give-up, vow never again to touch pen to paper or keystroke to electronic-device-of-your-choosing, when KABOOM! inspiration strikes and we're back to the proverbial drawing board, hunched over like a predator over its prey, pounding away at the keys (maybe even cackling), once again rejoicing at our own self proclaimed genius, wondering how in the world could we have ever doubted our brilliant gift?

Or, at least that's what happens to me. 

   Three completely different women, and I was able to relate to each one on several levels. Their messages were:

Be authentic.

Be bold.

We are experts of our own stories, and each of us has a story to tell.

Know yourself, and know what you have to say.

Just do it. (one of my personal philosophies, see my post "Do It")

Write to heal, to purge, for the joy of it.

Don't be scared.

     Lastly, I'm going to toot my own horn for a second...after the workshops, there was an open mic session, and as emboldened as I was from the day's workshops, I bucked up, sucked it in and read a very personal poem that I had written. I have never done that before. Most of what I write, I keep to myself, so "yay, go me" :)

In Grace's workshop, we each wrote a poem about a random item. Here's mine:

Crackle, crumble, dry and square

plastic wrapped, but please beware,

if uncovered, naked, bare,

freshness wanes, but do you care?

I think "no", as my soup is cupped,

and the cracker serves to sop it up.

by Shari Young, 4/10/17

Camp Nanowrimo 2017 First Day

Today is the first day of Camp Nanowrimo!
NaNoWriMo is the nickname given to National Novel Writing Month which I participated in 2011, 2015, and 2016. This is a mid-year event to help those of us who need to be held accountable in order to focus and write the novel that all of us have buried deep within. I've been working on this novel for six years and am only on Chapter 2. While that may sound pathetic, I should explain that I've written the entire thing once, and I've re-written the first Chapter (which is rather long) at least 8 times, but then I get frustrated and stuck and tell myself that it's terrible and no one will ever want to read it, and I'm not really a writer anyway,...but guess what??? It turns out that everyone who writes has those exact same self-defeating thoughts and fears! I'm not alone! Plus, I'm part of a fantastic Nanowrimo community right here in Dayton, OH. We encourage and support each other, share information. It's almost impossible to describe, but it is incredible, and I'll keep coming back for more, and who knows? Maybe in another six years I'll have finished four whole chapters of my book :D
Writing is my "thing" right now; my hobby, my passion. It's what keeps me going when everything else seems to be falling apart. It gets me out of bed in the morning, and sometimes keeps me up late at night. It keeps me sane.
Write On!!!


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