How Self-Talk Affects Our Writing

by Emme Gannon @GannonEmme

Don't be your own worst enemy.

Have you ever written a scene of great consequence and, suddenly, your mind takes you to an event in your distant past? A sense of place takes over. You write with fervor because you feel what your character feels. You know what she knows. You want what she wants. Except your story had never been resolved. So you try to write the story the way it should have been. While you mourn.

Lost Yesterdays - Fodder for the Writer

Lost yesterdays can be stimulating fodder for the writer. Karen Blixen, who wrote by the pen name of Isak Dinesen, started her poignant biography, Out of Africa with: “I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills.” She went on to passionately describe scenes that had fixed themselves in her heart and mind during the seventeen years of her life there. The day came when it was time to pack up the life she’d known and loved, store it in her heart, and move away. She’d never be the same. Part of her would always be in Africa.

While perhaps not as dramatic as Out of Africa, our dreams of the past can be just as powerful if seen through a redemptive eye. My seaside dream lasted five years. 

I had a home by the sea near where the Cooper River and the Ashley River meet to embrace the beautiful city of Charleston, South Carolina.

My writing room overlooked a meandering creek that wandered through marshland until at last it flowed into the vast Atlantic. Palmetto fronds scraped against my window on a breezy day and framed a view of snowy white egrets as they slowly waded along the muddy creekside foraging for food. At night I was lulled to sleep by the soft rasping sound of the ducks two-noted call.

Each morning, I would walk my little dog to our small village and stand in line at the French bakery. Scents of freshly baked bread mingled with the salty scent of the sea and soothed my soul.

The year I said goodbye to my seaside home, two graceful swans took up residence on the creek. They’d gracefully slide across the water looking for food, but would always return at dusk to the shore beneath my window, where I would rest knowing they were together and safe.

We’re told to not live in the past, but, if lessons are learned well, the past can weave into our present and future and bring both wisdom and memories of a life well lived. We'll see how God knew that we would need the joy of yesterday to bring a smile to today. Looking back, we'll remember that we braved the odds and pursued the dream of our heart. Leaving it behind isn’t failure but wisdom in knowing that it is time to move on to another journey—one where visions are not as clear and the advantages do not seem as great. We are embarking on a new dream, still seen through a vapor but one day will be as clear as the Carolina sky on a bright moonlit night.

Finding Writing Time When You Are A Caregiver

by Emme Gannon @GannonEmme

One more hour before I had to be home to relieve my husband’s caregiver and I’d not met my writing goal. I’d driven to the park and found a vacant bench where I tried to relax to the sound of the Reedy River as it gushed over boulders and tumbled to rocks below. I inhaled the scent of the nectar-sweet flowers edging the river and silently asked God to de-clutter my mind so that words would come. Today was to be one of those days where thoughts of duties at home would march across my mind and snag my words.

My husband’s dementia had not only imprisoned him but had the potential to wreak havoc on my writing. In the early stages of the disease, the scope of his needs overwhelmed me. I took no time for myself, knowing that caring for him was my calling.

But God had also called me to be a writer—to weave words together that had the potential to encourage and inspire the hearts of my readers. By voluntarily sacrificing my writing, I’d blasted a hole in my soul that couldn’t be filled by anything else. The lesson I’d tried to teach my children and grandchildren had been lost to me: when you are doing what God has called you to, you are energized. Exhaustion occurs when you add or take away from God’s program.

I reasoned that surely with all of my husband’s needs God desired that I sacrifice everything to care for this kind man who had loved and dedicated himself to me and our family for so many years. I was wrong on one point. The only sacrifice God was asking of me was to yield my life totally to Him and let Him decide who or what I serve in His name. Yes, the bitter cup of caregiving was indeed God’s calling, which I willingly accepted. However, He was not asking me to give up my writing as I’d supposed. He knew that when I write, I release my pain as well as encourage those caring for loved ones trapped in a place where they must struggle to live in a world that doesn’t speak their language. A world that isn’t safe to them. We are their lifeline and their reminder that God loves them and still has meaning for their lives. We who are called to serve these precious children of God are allowed to peek into their world and see God. As we glimpse this vision, we write, and allow others a peak also. Not to see darkness, but light—God’s light at work in a life that many see as irrelevant.

Even though I am yielded to the call of God, there are times when my heart bleeds with sadness and my tense muscles cause my body to ache with what I call soul sickness. I forget that I was not meant to bear the emotional pain of it all. It’s then that I get my husband settled with a book or a puzzle and go into my prayer closet. The bathroom is the only closed door my husband respects. So I go there and cry out to God and give back to Him the burden that He has already taken on the cross. It is there that He reminds me that I am not in control. He is. I can’t change things. He can. The end of the book has already been written by Him. It will all be good. Now go, faithful servant and love Agape—let Me love through you. Go infused by My strength. Go guided by My Spirit. It works each time. Because God is faithful.

As I gathered my things and walked to my car, I didn’t chastise myself because I didn’t achieve my word count. Instead of words for the page, God had whispered reminders of His faithfulness. Armed with that, the words would eventually come—just when I needed them.

For you writers who are also caregivers, I offer the following reminders that I use to help me get through my day:

1. Don’t let guilt rob you of the joy and energy your craft gives you. The Lord is faithful and will gift you with time. Just today a neighbor blessed me with several hours to write when he took my husband for a ride and lunch.
2. Don’t get caught up in the drama of your day. Go to a quiet place and listen for God’s whisper. Then go, empowered by the Spirit of the Living God. And write. 
3. Strive or yield? What will it be? We who often think we need hold our world together are strivers, which is a counterfeit of yielding. Striving produces stress. Yielding gives peace. 
4. Journal. Journaling not only helps you reach your goal of writing each day, but by exposing your true feelings, you give God the opportunity to bring His perspective and truth.

Surrender. Relax. Live out your call. Then write with passion.