What's a Writer to Do?

Yes, that's my book cover (as Marcus always says, shameless self promotion). Anyway the book has me thinking, "What's a writer to do?" Or, to put it another way, why in the world do we writers write?

When I was halfway through writing Stone Crossings, I almost gave up. I could no longer answer that question, of why I was writing. I was tired, disillusioned, wordless, ready to quit.

I even told God so. "I can't write! I can't teach!" I complained silently, as I opened the fridge to find some consolation. Upon going back to the dining room to absorb that consolation, I saw my bible, open to this passage from Isaiah 50:4...

The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens— wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.

What's a writer to do. Sustain others? Listen? Be teachable?

Howard Gardner, in his book Changing Minds, suggests that effective leaders should not be "reluctant to share their own visions, putting forth their own answers to fundamental questions about life, death, the meaning of the past, the prospects of the future." (p.108)

Somehow, I think this also applies to the writer. What's a writer to do? Sustain others, listen, be teachable, yes. And put forth answers to fundamental questions, yes. As for this writer, I hope the answers aren't just mine, but rather my Teacher's too.


Book cover photo, courtesy InterVarsity Press. Seedlings Invitation: If you write a post related to this post and Link It Back Here, let me know and I'll link to yours.