Encouragement

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What is it writers say? Write what you believe in and write from the heart. I guess living the life of a writer means believing that this is what one is meant to do. For me the first aspect about my writing especially when it comes down to the type of books I write is not to watch time! I throw time out the window because to create a masterpiece you cannot be controlled by this illusion that society has asked us to conform to. This is why I love the saying in the Bible that a thousand years is like one day and one day as a thousand years in the eyes of our Lord. As a writer I learnt that I can delete more than twenty pages of my work if it did not read well! I was never afraid to start again! That said, it meant I could not work to a schedule. I could not let time control my work. If it meant having nothing written for years then let it be so, what was more important was writing something that came from within, what I loved to read and what I believed others would love to read.

The next aspect I understood about my writing was the mental note. The mental note means for everything I see or do, there is a mental note recorded. I don’t have to write it down, it just has to become a part of me. I began building this geographical compass in my head from the time I was a child and still do today. I watch cats run beneath cars when I am driving, watch a man call for the elevators in a hotel, watch a crying baby in a super market and voila! I have this recorded for another time and place in a story. These mental notes have been my resource for my books. It is as if every time I need to write I just need to call upon them to feel in the blanks and the words.

The third aspect in this illustrious career is what I call the three stages of writing. The first stage is called the child. He is my irrational self that is only interested in one thing, getting his words on paper. This child writes with no restraints. Sometimes he creates words that stun the living daylights out of me and at other times I read gibberish! The important thing about the child is he is always resourceful and a good place to start. Next is the parent. This being examines what the child has written and tries to make sense out of it. He adds to it, bringing out sophistication or otherwise depending on the audience I am writing for. In any case when ever he is around I know I’m in trouble, I’ve nicknamed him the cop. Finally there’s Mr wise guy. He is a combination of the parent and the child and neither. His job is to argue the case for both parties and make sure each has a say in the finished product, quite frankly he is the quality control guy of my work. The only thing he ever asks for is to see my finished product through to the end.

If this is how I write then how do I live doing this? Well if the truth be known then I would say God has been by lecturer for many years. He taught me how to write because he inspired my books. He taught me how to be bold, fearless and determined to get his word out. He also taught me how to live while I wrote. Have you heard the saying man cannot live by bread alone? Well I take this literally. To craft the type of spiritual novels that I desire to write and read I live by this rule. To me this means discipline, faith and hard grafting. As difficult as it might get at times I know the Lord is always present in my work whether I decide to mention his name in every page or not. I do not have a schedule for my writing and I do not have a program of when I have to write. The most important thing is listening to how I feel. I can go for weeks writing nothing and spend the next two years producing several different articles and even books. It is my way and I guess my life as a writer.

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