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Topic: Writing (01/11/07)
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TITLE: Hope | Previous Challenge Entry
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01/13/07 -
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Writing is a means of communicating human experience and emotions. Writers have a need to express inner thoughts about life events. Writers need response from readers, because written communication can be a two-way exchange, as is speaking. Do you remember ever saying, “It’s like talking to a wall?” Have you ever written a letter that didn’t get answered?
Writers are compelled to write. Many writers “journal” their thoughts, feelings, fears, hopes, dreams, and prayers.
Who is the co-respondent in a journal? Haven’t you ever talked to yourself and then answered? Through written expression of problems, we often receive insights and solutions. Sometimes we say, “I’ll sleep on it,” or “I just got an idea.” Where did it come from? People have insight, and intuition which are inborn or God-inspired. We need interaction with other people.
Who do you want to communicate with? Why? We have an innate need. We are body, soul, and spirit. Writing communicates the inner thoughts outward. Our spirit communes with God. What you cannot speak, you write.
When a person writes “Dear Diary,” she usually confides secret hopes, dreams and feelings, too embarrassing to speak aloud for fear of being ridiculed. “Dear Diary” is a safe friend to be entrusted with our most fragile emotions.
E-mails have minimized or maybe even maximized our ability for self-expression. It is safer to write what is on our minds without fear of interruption, or being negated before we complete our thoughts. We may get a response, or maybe not, and not necessarily the one we want. Would it be better left unsaid?
Do you want to write? For yourself? For others? For response? By all means, do it! You might be surprised by what you have been suppressing all these years. You could learn from your Self! And then, it is recorded for posterity...or not!
Writing takes many shapes; in letters, memos, diaries, journals, poetry, fictional and non-fictional stories. Some people write about other people; some write about themselves. Writing may take the form of gossip, or praise, or instruction.
Writing is a reflection of who the writer is; their personality and character as revealed by their words.
A writer can write in the first-person, as an authority through personal experience. A writer can write in the third-person, as having been an eye-witness to the account being related.
When I wrote the story, “The Crystal Hummingbird,” I originally titled it “From the Valley of the Shadow to the Mountaintop.” I was inspired by the Twenty-Third Psalm, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me;” and also by the mountaintop experience given to Peter, James, and John, when Jesus led them up into a high mountain, and He was transfigured before them. I thought it was a perfect title, until someone said, “it’s too long, and how many readers will understand the significance?”
My next title became “Look to the Hills.” My inspiration for this title was also from the Psalms. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.”
By the time I re-read, edited and sought publication, I became aware of the significance of the crystal hummingbird in my life. It represented all the love and all the sorrow I had for my son. The title naturally evolved to “The Crystal Hummingbird.”
When a reader turns the pages in this story, she encounters the reality of deeply expressed human emotions. Emotions she recognizes as her own. The written words say what she feels but hasn’t been able to say. My heart silently communicates with her heart, and through the shared experience she receives the Hope we all long for internally. No matter what trials befall us, I have shared the greatest gift of all. Hope.
“For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
II Timothy 1:12b
This is why I am a writer.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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Take a second look, perhaps, at the number of questions you pose, and at the number of sentences with similar beginnings.
Thanks for letting us take a peek at your gift.
As a writer, I'm constantly sending heartfelt, personal e-mails to friends who are "non-writers". Their lack of timely response or no response I take personally. So,yes, I've had to ask myself for what purpose do I write? Is it better left unsaid? I often say,"I'm going to just stop because it opens my heart...makes me vulnerable to be hurt." However, I can't seem to.I have to go deep, and I have to write.
In that way, emails do both..maximize and minimize.