Monday, December 5, 2011

A Prayer for the Discouraged Writer


Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my savior and my God. Ps 42:5

Lord,

There are moments I feel as if I have it all wrong; that I am not meant to write this story — or any for that matter. I feel weak, helpless, and that all the hours I’ve spent at the keyboard, the weeks I’ve poured into research and study, all of it will come to nothing.

Yet, even in these moments I sense you here beside me whispering to my heart gentle words of encouragement. It is in these evenings of frustration you remind me I wasn’t meant to tackle this task on my own; that you yourself are the one guiding my pen for your glory and that you will perfect this work in your time.

Signed
A writer seeking perfection

3 comments:

  1. I feel this way very frequently. I am in the middle of two major overhauls. I am in the midst of two books that I have completely trashed and am rebuilding from the ground up... ie I'm keeping the characters but completely writing the stories they are in over again from scratch. It sucks. One of these project is MY BABY the story that means more to me than anything else in the world and I'm hacking it to heck in the name of making it work.

    I freaking hate it. The whole process. And, heck, the book too sometimes.

    That said, as miserable as it is making me, I keep going because I know the books will be the better for it in the end. And that I will be the better for it (both as a writer and a person) if I see it through.

    Sometimes it helps to remember that if it wasn't important, you wouldn't be spending this much time on it. Maybe that seems reflexive but the fact that you are still at it means it's worth doing.

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  2. I know exactly what you mean. My "baby" is in the process of being completely reworked too. It's heartbreaking but at the same time I do see the growth I've made since my first draft. Don't give up!

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