Getting Real

October 18, 2010 at 10:37 am

Since I became a member of ACFW, I have found myself engrossed from head to toe in nothing but information on perfecting the craft of writing. Some might find the information boring to read, but I find it enlightening, encouraging, and even a bit uplifting. Just last night I reading some thoughts about a writer’s life and the description of a writer. You know the dictionary says a writer is “a person who commits his or her thoughts, ideas, etc., to writing." I like the definition because it makes me feel like it is okay to say, “I’m a writer."

Do you know how scary that is? I used it for the first time today – on my brother. We were chatting on Facebook and he was informing me that I type way too fast. So I told him, “I’m a writer, it’s what I do. I’ve had years of practice. I can type with my eyes closed or not even looking at my computer screen.” He basically said, “Yeah” and moved on.

I think one of the biggest problems for a writer is the lack of understanding from family and friends. I can not count the times I’ve told someone I know that I’m working on a new story, poem, or project and been greeted with an “Oh“. Not really what I was looking for, but then again how can I expect them to understand unless they too are a writer? We all have our own desires, passions, and dreams. It’s difficult when we have trouble sharing them with those that are close to us.

However, I have learned there are others like me, who burn the mid-night oil, have voices of characters in their heads interrupting their sleep and showers. I am beginning to feel my writing come alive, beginning to feel it become real, and not like some little hobby that I only share with selected people once in a while. I believe until I’ve actually published a book (if that day comes) that I will always dread the, “So what have you written?”, question, but that does not change that I am indeed a writer.

I am thankful to have found a few places where I feel at home in the writing world. If you are a writer and you are looking for or longing for a place of acceptance for what you do, a place where sitting at your computer hours on end is okay then take a look at ACFW and MBT. So far I’ve found them both great places to be.

I’ve struggled with a specific scene in my current WIP and after spending several hours reading information from ACFW, MBT, and more – one thought came to me, “GET REAL“. Not as in, “Get real, you’ll never write a book, let alone get it published." My WIP has a lot of truth in it from my life experiences and because I’m flipping it and creating a fictional story; it proves to have its challenges. One thing I hear over and over is “just start writing." I’ve done that, but in my attempt to piece the puzzle of truth and fiction together, I forgot to be real.

Yes, my WIP is based on a few life experiences. Yes, I want it to be a fictional book; Christian romance to be precise. The thing is I already know the story in my heart, so what is it I need to do? I need to get real and just write. After that I can tweak it, flip it, dress it up, and whatever else I want to do to it.

First things first. It’s time to get real, dig down deep, and let it all out. I know that God will guide me through this and I feel thankful that he has led me to places where I feel accepted for what I do.

In Him,

~T~

P.S. Do you know how excited I was when I clicked proofread and it said, “No errors were found”.