Author: Rhett Wilson - A Word in Season

Writers can walk through life with our eyes wide open.

Poet Robert Frost said, “How many things have to happen to you before something occurs to you?”

The experiences of our lives provide rich fodder for our writing endeavors. The people we meet, the hurts we endure, and the occasional victories we enjoy offer material worth pondering.

If we write fiction, relationships through the years offer inspiration for potential characters in our works. That weird habit of a co-worker, the unusual personality of a cousin, or the favorite pastime of a parent may resurface in people we create in our writing years later.

As we write nonfiction, a wealth of experiences can present valuable jewels to help our readers. Maybe we worked with a person with a deep rejection issue. That experience helps us write to people dealing with rejection. We may remember the pain of losing a pet as a child and be able to communicate that in an article to help children. Perhaps we moved several times as young adults and can produce copy with practical suggestions on how to prepare for a move.

Here are five ways to mine the experiences of our lives and keep our eyes wide open:

1. Make a list of at least thirty people from your life. Write one to three specific qualities about them – positive or negative. Maybe your uncle Joe always chewed Juicy Fruit, or your first grade teacher was always sad because she was going through a divorce, or your grandfather listened to Billy Graham at night on his alarm clock radio?

2. Write down the ten most enjoyable experiences of your life and the ten hardest ones. What did you learn from each one?

3. What are the ten most significant books that have changed your life? Write down one sentence for each one about what you learned.

4. Consider what are the ten most life-changing conversations you ever had. Where were you? Why did it change you? It may be when your father took you out to lunch alone and told you that he and your mother were getting a divorce. Or you talked with a college professor in his office, and endless avenues seemed to open up in your brain about possible careers to pursue. Or a friend affirmed something very deep inside of you over coffee one day.

5. Remember seven distinct places that had seven distinct smells. What comes to mind as you remember those places and smells. Your college dorm room? Your grandmother’s kitchen? Your father’s workshop? Your favorite restaurant as a teenager?

As you answer these questions, hopefully new wine will start pouring forth to inspire possibilities for writing. What can you learn from these people, places, and memories?

Henry Ford said, “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.”

We all sometimes wonder why we write.

Nagging doubts and questions invade our minds:

“No one wants to read what you write. You are a nobody.”

“You will never be as good as John Grisham, or Jerry Jenkins, or Alton Gansky.”

“The time you spend writing and learning to write could be spent in more beneficial ways.”

Similar thoughts bombarded Susan about her singing. Bullied as a child and called “Susie Simple” at school, she knew the sting of rejection. Her homely appearance and humble beginnings caused many people to question her worthiness. But Susan knew that she could sing.  She dreamed one day of singing for the Pope and the Queen of England.

For years, she practiced her scales, took singing lessons, and sang at local Scottish pubs and her local church’s choir. She repeatedly and unsuccessfully auditioned for radio and television gigs. Thinking she was too old to begin a public singing career, she almost gave up.

Thankfully, she did not.

In April 2009, at age 47, Susan Boyle shocked the world on the television show Britain’s Got Talent by opening her mouth and singing I Dreamed a Dream from the Broadway hit Les Miserables. With the first line of the song, the world knew this woman could sing. Applause and cheers erupted throughout the aria, resulting in a standing ovation before Susan finished singing.

An overnight world-sensation, Susan’s world changed. Her debut album I Dreamed a Dream sold over 3 million copies — more than any CD in the world in 2009. Since then, Boyle performed for the Pope, the Queen of England, and numerous venues around the globe.

What if this never-married and never-kissed woman who lived with her cat in a small Scottish village listened to the negative voices? What if she believed, “Susan, you are a nobody. You will never be as good as Elaine Paige. You are wasting your time chasing pipe dreams.”

The world would have missed a phenomenal reminder that God uses faithful people hidden in obscurity.  He finds and selects normal folks who dutifully prepared themselves for their moments of opportunity.

The Bible says that “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

The word “workmanship” comes from the Greek word poeima, which gives us our English words poem and poetry. In essence, you are God’s poem. You are special. He has gifted you with talents and experiences unique to you.

Susan Boyle may have felt many times like just another homely woman. But God had a different plan. She embraced her God-given gifts, developed her skills, and refused to quit trying. And it finally paid off.

So can you. When the voices of doubt and fear come knocking, remind yourself that you are God’s poem. You have a work to do.

Get busy honing those skills and learning how to write.

One day, the world may be waiting.

We all sometimes wonder why we write.

Nagging doubts and questions invade our minds:

“No one wants to read what you write. You are a nobody.”

“You will never be as good as John Grisham, or Jerry Jenkins, or Alton Gansky.”

“The time you spend writing and learning to write could be spent in more beneficial ways.”

Similar thoughts probably bombarded Susan about her singing. Bullied as a child and called “Susie Simple” at school, she knew the sting of rejection. Her homely appearance and humble beginnings caused many people to question her worthiness. But Susan knew that she could sing.

For years, she practiced her scales, took singing lessons, and sang at local pubs in Scotland and her local church’s choir. She repeatedly and unsuccessfully auditioned for radio and television gigs. Thinking she was too old to begin a public singing career, she almost gave up.

Thankfully, she did not.

In April 2009, at age 47, Susan Boyle shocked the world on the television show Britain’s Got Talent by opening her mouth and singing I Dreamed a Dream from the Broadway hit Les Miserables. With the first line of the song, the world knew this woman could sing. Applause and cheers erupted throughout the aria, resulting in a standing ovation before Susan finished singing.

Susan was an overnight world-sensation. Her debut album I Dreamed a Dream sold over 3 million copies. It sold more copies than any CD in the world in 2009. Since then, Boyle performed for the Pope, the Queen of England, and numerous venues around the globe.

What if this never-married and never-kissed woman who lived with her cat in a small Scottish village listened to the negative voices? What if she believed, “Susan, you are a nobody. You will never be as good as Elaine Paige. You are wasting your time chasing pipe dreams.”

The world would have missed a blessing.

The Bible says that “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

The word “workmanship” comes from the Greek word poeima, which gives us our English words poem and poetry. In essence, you are God’s poem. You are special. He has gifted you with talents and experiences unique to you.  You have a work to do.

Susan Boyle may have felt many times like just another homely woman. But God had a different plan. She embraced her God-given gifts, developed her skills, and refused to quit trying. And it finally paid off.

So can you. When the voices of doubt and fear come knocking, remind yourself that you are God’s poem. He has good works for you.

Get busy honing those skills and learning how to write.  You have a work to do.

One day, the world may be waiting.

Do you know that God has your number?

Discouragement tries to rob us of the reminder of the nearness of God. We don’t win a writing contest we entered. One of our friends experiences writing successes that we don’t. We read our own words and feel dumb. We may even be tempted to think, “This is ridiculous. I am wasting my time. My little writing does not matter to the Lord.   He is too busy with Charles Swindoll, Beth Moore, and Jerry Jenkins.”

In such times God may feel 1000 miles away.

But He isn’t, he has your number.  He still has those theological qualities I learned as a boy in church.  God is omnipresent.  He is everywhere.  God is omniscient.  He knows everything. Ken Gaub, an itinerant evangelist, shares an amazing testimony in his book God’s Got Your Number: When you least expect it, He is there!

Feeling forgotten by the Lord, Gaub stopped his Silver Eagle bus at a Dayton, Ohio, exit for his family to get lunch.  Walking outside he heard the continual ringing of a payphone – yes, long before cell phones.  He finally answered it and heard, “Long distance call for Ken Gaub.”

Wondering if he were on Candid Camera, Ken was dumbfounded.  Responding to a persistent operator, he accepted the call.  The caller, Millie from Pennsylvania, told him that she was about to commit suicide.  She remembered seeing Gaub on television and thought he could help her, but she did not know how to reach him.  While writing her suicide note, several numbers spontaneously popped into her head.

Picking up the phone and dialing the numbers, she thought that it would be a miracle if she were calling Ken Gaub’s office in Washington state.  He explained to her that he was standing inside of a phone booth in Ohio.

The woman gave her life to Christ over the phone and began mapping her life in a whole new direction.  Gaub writes, “I walked away from that telephone booth with an electrifying sense of our Heavenly Father’s concern for each of His children.”

God sees you.  He knows.  You trust Him and be faithful. He will use you and your writing for His glory.

He’s got your number.

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Image: Michel take a number | by Christopher.Michel