Alone and only you know how good

[BrotherDave]

You know, one of the worst things about being a writer is the lonliness.
We sit alone with our pen or our keyboard, pour out our souls on the page
and only we know how good it is. At times that is a blessing, like a new mother with our newborn, only we get the priviledge of he first bonding with our child. At other times, however, it can be torture, as we we want to shout to the world what a beautiful baby we have birthed, but others must be won to our side to read and behold our new creation. Even then, unfortunately, our reward is not always acceptance, but indifference. A rejection brings more joy than apathy. And once again, in either rejection or indifference, we are left alone with our child.

Hmm, this is not ment to be sad, but it is the curse and the blessing of being a writer.

[wgjones3]

I've found the greatest reward from my writing has come from people I know reading and appreciating it. Especially people on this site who have way more talent than myself and yet they still find enjoyment from something I wrote. That makes it all worthwhile for me anyway.

[Merry]

Sigh... I must admit sometimes I have given birth to literary babies with a face only a mother could love.... :D

[FireFeet]

I'm coming around to the place of thinking that if something which I write touches just ONE person it was all worthwhile.

And I kinna wonder if that isn't the heart of God. Afterall...He sent Jesus...HIS baby...in the hopes of reaching even one person...

I write because God gives me words...no other reason.

But...sigh...yes, it can be lonely and frustrating...

[firstacts]

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

In sports we hear "It all comes down to 'what have you done for me lately'".

In stand up comedy there is instant feedback or lack thereof.

In writing there is a bearing of soul that, at times, comes with great price. There is no instant feedback and some of the feedback comes in the form of a rejection letter.

Sometimes the words are so personal we keep them for ourselves. Other times we reach out a tentative hand hoping someone will see the beauty we see. Some persever when others do not see the beauty while others fold up their tent and vow to never do that again.

Lonely? Yes, it certainly can be. Fulfilling? Beyond doubt.

Many could not care less when it comes to our writing, but there has to be a champion out there for each writer. Sometimes it is a family member or friend. Sometimes it is someone on line.

Always we should be writing for an audience of One - sometimes He makes sure the audience is much larger, sometimes it is between Creator and created.

A forum like this is helpful for those who are just begining to stretch their work heavenward hoping for sometime their heart may yearn for. We need to come alongside and hold up their arms.

G ;)

[mendedheart]

Brother Dave,

It's disappointing to have your own masterpiece rejected. While working on it you forget everthing else. You are drained by the time it is finished and submitted to a publisher.
The suspension (Is that the word I want or a different one. Help!) runs high while you play the waiting game. The day finally comes when you get the long awaited letter. The last word you want to see is "rejected" (or another word but it means the same) but there it is in bold print.

You may think "I'll never write again. It's not worth it for all the effort I put into it." You may put away your pen and paper and your creative side of the brain, not expecting to use it again. But if you are a real writer, you can't ---not write. One little word or picture might be all you need to get those creative juices flow again. It never leaves no matter what comes in between.

Words have been flowing out of my big mouth all day but whether they make any sense or not, they all get a chance. I pity the listener unless they know how to block me out without hurting my feelings.

I don't think you will give up. God put that desire and talent in you. He will stir it up when you least expect it. The next attempt will be better than the one rejected. Just because they don't accept it, it doesn't mean it isn't any good.

Guess that's more than my two cents worth. Time's up! Joan

[mendedheart]

:) Me again but this time it's addressed to Glen. It's true every writer has at least one chapmpion. I've been blessed, I have 3. They want to buy my book. One who is really pushing me to write a book is an old classmate of mine. I mean old---graduate of 1948---my young grandson very seriously asked me if I ever saw any dinosauers. That's old? I think it;'s funny because I don't feel old.

Another is a young man on another site I write on. The third is another classmate who believes in me keeps pushing me to be the best iI can be. When I get an idea I work it out by emailing my thoughts about it to him. He says he loves to read what I say and my thoughts, even when it's something stupid. Then when it's published I send him a copy. He thinks they are all terrific.

This week started out fine. Then I got attacked by something I wrote on another site. I don't like to fight with any one. The person only reads the parts he wants to and never understands what I am really saying. My computer had been down for about a month. I didn't know he had written something on the board he wanted a reply to. He sends a newsletter out every week. I innocently unsubscribed from it. I really didn't have time to read it and didn't always agree with much he had to say. I should have gotten off there long ago. His beliefs aren't the same as mine.

I went on the site to see what was happening. He was banning me because i didn't have the courtesy to answer him. He put this statement after three of the articles he published of mine. He added another giving me the ultimative that if I didn't reply in 48 hours my 3 items would be removed and I wasn't allowed on the board again.

I don't just disappear without a notice but when I tried to get on, I had forgotten my password. I clicked on forget password. They were sending another so I could get on. It never came. Is it possible that someone can refuse to send it to me so I couldn't reply?

I didn't let it go like that. I was being honest with him and I expected the same courtesy.
I sent him an email. He twisted everything around that I said to make me look guilty and put him in the right. This was all on the site for everyone to see. I started to write kind of an angy letter but God stopped me. "What would Jesus do?" He was silent when attacked with false accusations. So I didn't say anything. There is more to it than that but that is enough to say I was in a down mood for a few days. I did add that when he took my 3 articles , he better take two others off too. He didn't see them.

I called my friend so I could have a shoulder to cry on. He wasn't home. I expected him to call back but he didn't. The next day he said he patiently waited until the dust settled and things were working out better for me. He mentioned the angels were looking out for me.
He is a wise man. I tell him he is the wind beneath my wings (Is that the song or do I have it mixed up?) He knows what to say or do when I feel my world is falling apart and I'm being dropped on the ground again, slightly wounded.

Yep! I have a great champion along with others who give me a boost.

Today started out as a down day. When I began to write to my best friend, I remembered some things i wrote years ago that were published in a little newspaper for a contest but I didn't win. It brought back some good memories and gave me some wild ideas on some things i could possibly write about.

This is too long so I'll tell you about something good on another thread. The juices are starting to flow again.


Thanks for listening to this long tale of woe. No one can keep me down for too long. Jesus just picks me up and sets me on my feet. I count it all joy when I am persecuted for telling the truth. God bless all you lovely people who encourage me to keep writing no matter what.

[DrRita]

I think it was Philip Yancey who said writing is often times akin to birthing a bale of barbed wire! Sometimes that is so true. But accepted or rejected, it's the faithfulness not the "success" of the writer which will earn the coveted "Well done, good and faithful servant." None of the printed pages will matter in eternity, only the words written on our hearts and poured out through our lives and pens by the Spirit himself. It's all in God's hands anyway and He knows what He wants to do with the "baby" we've produced. Following him is the only thing that counts. "Peace I give, not as the world gives, give I unto you." These words are meant only for us who are His. We could translate this to our writing. "Success I give, not as the world gives, give I unto you." Halleljuah! Isn't it a burden lifted to know we've done our part and God will do his.

[JCsAngelPen]

that's interesting cause I'm just a lonely/shy person myself...so it really doesn't bother me at all!

[beachrunnerkj]

This is my first reply/participation in this site/forum so please be patient with me.
I think just the ability to BE alone is a writer's gift. There are so many distractions and entertainment forms in our world today, just to take time to be alone is a gift.
However, I empathize with the curse part of it too.
People and conversations and beautiful scenery stimulate my imagination and feed my mind. When I have a day of writing, I take a break and got to a coffee shop and hang out or take my coffee to a park. My husband says I'll talk to anyone and he's right. I like to see what people are "up to".

In my experience, I've notice that the times I really get antsy and don't want to be alone or feel lonesome, it's when I haven't spent enough time with God. So I try to settle in and listen. Sometimes some of my best work comes during those times. And that's really how I became a writer anyway.

Being alone is better than being in bad company!
Keep writing.
kj

[writefx]

Even though I am a person that loves to be alone, I have discovered that writing in the later years has activated feelings of great loneliness.

I used to write for pleasure but after being published I began the route of writers courses, books etc all with the emphasis on selling, getting famous etc. I totally lost all satisfaction and became not only depressed by writing but also developed serious writers block.

I think that is because I then craved the encouragement, praise, approval instead of the plain joy of writing and using one's God given talents and I even turned down serious writing offers because of all of this.

It wasn't until earlier this week that God answered a prayer and I found this site.

In my early joy I was writing with God as the focus - I would love to return to that again.

Urszula

[DrRita]

Even though I am a person that loves to be alone, I have discovered that writing in the later years has activated feelings of great loneliness.

I used to write for pleasure but after being published I began the route of writers courses, books etc all with the emphasis on selling, getting famous etc. I totally lost all satisfaction and became not only depressed by writing but also developed serious writers block.

I think that is because I then craved the encouragement, praise, approval instead of the plain joy of writing and using one's God given talents and I even turned down serious writing offers because of all of this.

It wasn't until earlier this week that God answered a prayer and I found this site.

In my early joy I was writing with God as the focus - I would love to return to that again.

Urszula


Urszula,
I can RELATE! I wrote during the mid eighties and early nineties, published and began the same thing: writing for all the same reasons. God shut the door in my "face" and I didn't write for publication until just recently (last year) when I felt God calling me back to writing. I am writing now but from a different perspective and inner source.

I so appreciate your post because I have been trying to write some articles for some of the larger Christian mags and haven't been able to formulate my ideas into their formats. I went to bed last night praying about it and this morning, there was your post! I guess I had sort of slipped back into the old mindset for a moment and your post was like a slap on the cheek (thanks! I needed that). I feel better already. Now that my head is clear, I need to get back to writing what I've been called to write and in the way God wants it written.

See, already God is using your writing! God Bless

[christiangirl]

how's everyone doing? one thing about writing that frustrates me is when i get blocked, anyone have any suggestions to working through it. thanks! !thumbsup!

[TemlynWriting]

how's everyone doing? one thing about writing that frustrates me is when i get blocked, anyone have any suggestions to working through it. thanks! !thumbsup!

Welcome christiangirl! I'm sure you'll feel isnpired around here! It's a great board! :)

[ladypreacher]

Merry, speaking of literary work with the face only a mother can love... That was classic. And Dr. Rita with so much wisdom and insight... I can't even touch on how much I have related to the different things you all have written... Just glad that I have a tissue!

What it all boils down to is our passion to write. I appreciate Glenn and his dedication to write daily and can so relate to all of the different writing projects! If I ever have to really be discliplined in my writing I think I'd explode from sensory overload! I get so busy in my brain!

I was really touched about all of us having a Champion. I've been very fortunate to have a lot of support behind me with my writing, but the most help I've had to push me forward and to move my pen is from a little old lady named Opal. She just turned 92. Opal was interested in me and my writing from the very first time that I mentioned that I write. I told her of the novel I was working on and she asked me if I would let her read it. I told her that I couldn't, as it wasn't typed up yet. I had written it in long hand and had four different people promise to type up the manuscript for me, and none followed through. She asked me why didn't I type it up myself. I told her I was a lousey typist. That didn't phase her. It went painfully slow at first, but I managed to hammer out a chapter a week, because if she didn't get her chapter she was awful disappointed and didn't worry about letting me know.

I managed to type up that first novel. Then Opal started pestering me about it's sequel... She finished reading my second novel, and lo and behold, I had finished writing the darn thing! A couple of weeks ago Opal got serious about the third book in my trilogy... I've written 150 pages long hand and I have two chapters ready for Opal. I need to get to work! (She'll only get one chapter on Sunday when I pick her up for church! LOL) A real bonus, besides for actually getting the books out of my brain was that I learned how to type while I was at it!

I like the solitude I find when I'm alone with the Lord and my imagination. ( Sometimes it's just me and my little pea brain, but when I'm really on a roll it's when I'm working in felllowship with the Creator of all things!) Unlike life, I get to make it up as I go along. Sometimes reality throws us a few obsticals to our happily ever after... Just always remember, Rejection isn't really, No, it's just Wait, I have something better for you! God's grace in all you do BrotherDave! Great thread!

Happy writing, peaceful journey!

Ladypreacher

[Botim]

calvary greetings to all. I think every calling has a cost and normally we do not have the sympathy of the flesh to pay it all. well, it required christ to visit the Gesthemane, for him to write new bill, having blot out the handwriting of Devil. I have found out that, such necessary loneliness, is very important to give birth to some wonderful babies. Conception does not really need crowd, however the birth is not so quite. but the gesthemane of our write up requires stay alone in a place incubate and hatch those wondefl ideas.

Every profession requires some ethics, i think one of the ideals in writing requires concentration, and these can better be in the lonely room.
can you imagine the widow and her children all alone in the room pouring out the low rated oil into the borrowed vessels. - the door there was shut----- do remeber. to multiply and fill our new and small inspiration into vessels-( the borrowed knowledge and skill we must have acquired over the years and within the walls of school or what means) then we can now bring into the market of life.

Now in the market-- you'll see many of those things. there two major mninstries I've found consistently common with men even in the christian circles, the grace to flatter or the grace to criticize , and these two cannot but be witnessed by our work, that little baby that to us many time and rigour to put togetther.

i think as a writer, we need wisdom in handling both. perceive flattering, appreciate adminiration and respond to critque. it very easy for us to sometimes be loyal to our mistakes i think this is not good. if we re4spond postively to critique, it may aid great improvement. however we should not be discourage when someone wash down our labour, if it blesses souls, you have a reward

I think such loniliness, flattering, criticizm and admiration will be common, we just need wisdom to take good care of them, inspite of any of these, we must still all the time committed to "publshing God's wisdom and procliam His Kingdom"
<a href=http://www.faithwriters.com/member-profile.php?id=9422> READ SOME OF MY ARTICLES</a> !thumbsup!

[ladypreacher]

Hi there. You shared some really interesting insights on the conception, birth and nurturing of our ideas and how to handle the positive and the negative feedback. I enjoyed your post and look forward to reading more.

Welcome to the forum. I'm an old-timer, but only a part-timer on any given day...

God bless you.

Ladypreacher
aka
Audrey

[valentine]

What a wonderful thread!!! I believe that the same sensitivity that brings us to write is the sensitivity that causes us to feel such pain when our writing is rejected. No matter how many times my work is given the thumbsdown :( , the agony is just as bad (you'd think I'd have developed calluses by now ;) ). It is easy to give in to the feelings of rejection and think that my work is no good. I'm trying now to think that I simply haven't yet discovered the right place for my work. I'm thinking that God has a plan for me and if I just keep embracing my alone time spent pounding out the streams of consciousness He gives me, I will find that place.

[Botim]

May be it is theory or not, but i think the set of first attempts are really meant to train. In the school of God, just like in any Institution of learning, you have curriculum for different courses or specialization. so likewise it is in the kingdom. our calling determining our trainning.

though we have common training of patience, faith truth fatihfulness and others, but there are virtues and degrees depending on the ways, environment you are presently and where the gift will be used. sometimesm where you received the trainning, won't be the place to use it :) funny i think

But what is important is that, God is on his way to some where. and you need to follow Where He demands. But some other times, when we are growing, He'll request as did in Gen 17:1 :WALK BEFORE ME AND BE THOU PERFECT!

[Kaylee4Christ]

I just write and write and write. I hone my stories until they are perfect sometimes, but most times I write my sloppy copy on the computer (because I can type wayy faster than I can write on a piece of paper) and post it on christianforums.com and get my critiques there, or give it to my English teacher. He will read it, and make a few copies of it. My gifted and talented specialist will read it, and my English teacher will give a copy to his sixth grade daughter (my age) and she will give her opinion. I get a lot of different opinions from a lot of different people, and I am glad, because then I will get a chance to make my stories better so that people will see them on the shelf and want to read them, to buy them and take them home with them. I want my readers to feel the same way my characters do. I want them to understand the situation, and be able to see it through someone else's eyes. I want to have that gift. I am on my way there, but nowhere near yet. I am a writer, and I want to be one when I grow up. I want to be a writer for the Lord. :)

Kaylee

[Botim]

Haste,rather known in some part of the world as "smartness" can desroy any gift and good work. we may want the whole world to read about the good work we are doing, and want to get it to market, but i have found out that process and procedure had been to grafted in into life. : there is time for every thing.
http://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=22886
read do not about the process in this URL faithwriters
i beleive our works must pass the test of audience application and originality. in any writing work,there must be targetted audience and must be original. originality of a work cannot be strip from inspiration. you've got to be inspired to get original work out.
however, the target is important. Given works to different people of different backgorund and sense of judgment will get you different feed back that will aid a nice work. and that's what i've been doing also.

I strongly stress passing through school of God it is relevant and will aid how quick and sensitive we are to messages that may come. :)