If you read my post last week as part of the Transformational Fiction giveaway blog tour titled “A Matter of Trust,” you may be wondering if I struggle with jealousy (also known as coveting, featured in one of the Ten Commandments).
Sure there’s a twinge or two sometimes. Hanging out with such successful authors, there’s bound to be the occasional temptation toward whining and self-pity, but I don’t think I’ve strayed into Ten Commandment-breaking territory. On my old blog, I used to have a whole category called “publishing envy,” but I don’t struggle so much with that anymore. Partly because my author friends are also very busy and have lots of deadlines and pressure that I definitely do NOT covet.
You know what causes me more of a problem these days? Not
publishing envy, but writing envy.
Maybe even more specifically, imagination envy.
Case in point. I’m a college librarian, and one of our
student assistants came to my office door the other day. He was practically
glowing. Seems things had been slow at the front desk, so he started playing
around with the big fantasy epic series he’s writing. He had decided to try
adding a prologue, and when he did, all these ideas about his fantasy world
started flowing. It opened up more backstory, more potential books. He was so
excited and kept saying, “This is awesome, this is awesome!”
Oh, yes…it is so awesome when writing is like that! I
remember it. But I haven’t actually experienced that feeling in a while. And
that’s what makes me green with envy.
Why is that, I am wondering? After having an absolutely
runaway imagination all my life, why has it more or less dried up the past
couple of years?
I have a few ideas as to possible reasons, although I’m not
entirely sure of the main culprit.
If you’re interested in such things, I’m going to do a blog
series exploring things that might drain us of imagination and creativity, and
what we—or specifically, I—can do to get back the awesome! So please come along
for the ride and share your thoughts.
You can check back here, follow me on Facebook for updates, or sign up for an email subscription to my blog. (The subscription form is on the lefthand side of this page.) Thanks!
Remember that time Jesus said something about being kind to “the least of these brothers and sisters”? I often feel that’s what the ladies in the Transformational Fiction online prayer group did for this sister when they took me in!
I was flattered when Elizabeth Musser invited me to be part of the online writers’ prayer group she was forming, but not stunned—not at first. She’s been a friend, a mentor, and my head writing cheerleader for years. But when I found out the names and accomplishments of not only Elizabeth, but everyone else in the group, that’s when genuine amazement set in.
These ladies are power houses of Christian writing and publishing—best sellers, award-winning (including lots of Christys), with loads of books published and contracts for the future. And then there’s me. An indie author with two novels out there.
When we meet together, we generally talk about what’s going on in our lives in general and our writing lives in particular. Then we pray for one another and make a commitment to continue praying during the month, until we meet online again.
I’ve been in face to face prayer groups in a wide variety of denominations and settings. When people meet together to talk about prayer needs—for themselves, for loved ones, for colleagues or church friends—there are pitfalls. Some groups encourage a little too much sharing that can slip into gossip, or long therapy sessions where the focus is mostly on self. Others encourage so much “faith” and decorum that a lot of needs go unspoken. A lot of big smiles cover up hurting hearts.
Doing a prayer group the right way requires trust. You need to be able to trust the others not to divulge sensitive things you’ve told them, but also trust they won’t look down on you if, say, their prayer need is to be able to meet that three-book contract deadline, and yours is that you haven’t been able to write at all for weeks because of your caregiving responsibilities and full-time day job.
When you share prayer requests about your life, you make yourself vulnerable. You have to, or there’s not much point in being there. You naturally have to share your insecurities, your needs and concerns—or projects that aren’t quite going the way you’d hoped. That’s true of any prayer group, but it really gets interesting when a group who are in the same profession—who theoretically are business competitors—get together to pray about their writing issues.
Think about that for a minute. Can you picture Microsoft and Google and Apple execs sitting down and talking about their plans for their companies, their missteps, their fears? Trusting one another not to use that inside info against them? One admitting they need guidance while another’s new techie gadget is selling like hotcakes?
When Elizabeth started the group, her vision wasn’t so much to bring together a group of her friends for therapy and blessings, although we get that too, but to help us all grow closer to Jesus. To learn more and be better able to discern his will for our writing and use it to his glory. Tapping in to that vision, I think, helps us with the trust and selfishness issues.
I only knew one of these ladies before we started meeting together, but I can honestly say I have learned to trust them. I think I’ve earned their trust, as well. And that is an honor, indeed.
How about you? Have you participated in a prayer group, online or otherwise? Did you have any problems making yourself vulnerable or trusting the other members? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
If you have already signed up for my newsletter, thank you! However, for you to qualify, I’ll still need record of your entry through the link above. (Don’t worry! You won’t be signed up twice.)
To enter the grand prize drawing (all six novels), enter each giveaway of the Transformational Fiction Giveaway Tour. Visit my sister in faith and fiction Susan Meissner for her post “How to Start Your Own Online Prayer Group” and a chance to win her novel As Bright as Heaven!
Ends Sunday, March 10, 2019 at 11:59pm CST. All Transformational Fiction Giveaway winners will be announced Monday, March 11, 2019, and will have 48 hours to claim their prize or thereby forfeit to the runner up. Participants must enter all 6 giveaways to be considered for the grand prize drawing. Limited to US residents only. Must be 18 or older to enter.
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