Heart and Soul Writing

The meeting table...

"Jesus loves me. This I know for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak but he is strong." I grew up singing this song from a very young age. I experienced the love of Jesus at the ripe ole age of 3, so he's been a part of the fabric of my entire life. John 15:1-11 is a beautiful picture of the intimacy Christ seeks to have with us. What's this have to do with writing? ...

"Readers don't want your words. They want your heart!" Ted Dekker

"Somewhere in each book is its writer's soul. Sometimes it's in the words and sometimes it's between the lines." Ashley Putney

Why do you write? What motivates you? Have you ever tried not writing? If so, what was the result?

At our writer's meeting today, we discussed these things. The main consensus being: we write as a way to flesh out the quandaries of life - those things we find circling in our brains, ping-ponging off the walls of our minds and just won't leave us alone. Writing is both therapeutic and journaling. We write because we can't totally process things any other way. We were also in total agreement that when we don't write, we get really grouchy. Things pile up inside us, begging for release. We. Must. Write!

So write! But when you write, write with your whole heart. Spill your soul onto the page. People don't want to read a bunch of words.  They want a glimpse into your life, your heart, your very soul. So, let them see.

We did two exercises today and I encourage you to try them. First, we wrote about one of the most mundane things we did this past week. We read them aloud and discussed how we felt as we wrote. 

Pouring hearts on the page...

Then, we wrote about a time in our life when God made his presence in our lives so clear, so vivid that it changed us forever. We discussed how we felt while writing this one in comparison to how we felt writing about mundane things. Then, we read our stories aloud. 

We discovered that when writing about things that don't seem to really matter, we were a little more open and free. But with the life changing experience we felt the weightiness of the topic and handled it with more care. 

However, the main thing we discovered was how in writing and reading our life-changing stories, all the emotions of those moments came back to us. The things we felt at that time were relived this morning. We each took a part of our lives and put our heart on the page.

Another interesting observation, though was that even in our mundane moments' stories we could clearly see a part of each other. And that's the mark of a good writer.

More bleeding on the page...

This is what I'm talking about. Tosca Lee calls it mining your emotions. No matter what you're writing, whether fiction or non-fiction, use your life experiences to bring back emotions you've felt. If you're writing about something sad, remember a time in your life when you were sad. Utilize those feelings. Put them on the page. Same with exciting things, dark things, happy things. Whatever the subject matter calls for.

And it doesn't have to be your own experience. It can be someone else's. I've never lost a child, but those I love have. I've seen the devastation and felt their pain with them. I've seen a couple so happy they glow in each other's presence. Bask in that glow and put it on the page. Recall those physical, mental, and emotional responses and invoke them into your writing. Give the reader your heart and soul.

How can you give them your all when you are empty? This is where John 15 comes in. We all agreed that when we are empty, there's nothing to give. The importance of filling ourselves, or rather God filling us, is vital. Abide in Christ and he in you. Bask in the joy of his love and his presence. One of my pastors said recently, "Jesus loves you and you can not be loved more!" (Derek Thomas) Bask in his love and let him fill you so that you in turn may pour your heart out of the page. Don't just give readers your words. Give them you heart.

So, what about you? Why do you write? What happens when you don't? How do you fill up when you're empty?

~Linnette R Mullin