Other writers publish their books and have their stories read. The world tweets about it and buzzes with their words. I stand at a fork in the road as all the hours spent writing peer back at me and ask, "Will you strive harder, or give up trying?"
But then, it’s not really about me. I remember this when I consider the Bible verse about “…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12: 2 NKJV).
The truth in this picture of Jesus (what he did for us and how he’s the one to look unto) means I can write (and should write) for God’s glory; to sing his praises and not my own. And it may look different for each person God created anew in Christ Jesus.
I enjoy creative writing. This blog gives me a place to share the hobby and offer writing exercises to help others in their hobby, too, all while giving God the glory (The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it... Psalm 24:1 NIV).
So, when a person pours over a story, writing and writing until it seems finished, what happens next?
I’ve heard it said that writers revise until they can’t stand their story anymore. But what if I learn certain editing steps? Like putting the finishing touches on a watercolor painting, here’s a thing to anticipate and not dread. When I paint a flower, I save the final details for the fine-point paintbrush.
This week I went to my local library to find some books on writing and editing. A few tidbits gathered: rearrange a sentence and place interesting words at the beginning to catch the reader’s attention; remove an adjective and instead use a descriptive action verb; break a long sentence into two for better flow.
Writing Prompt: Take a story or an essay you wrote and embellish it with one of the above suggested steps.