Tag Archives: Life

Let it Flow

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Today I have the pleasure of introducing our second ‘Write Life’ guest blogger, award winning author, Jo Wanmer. Despite a huge couple of weeks, Jo has still managed to bring us a blog with her characteristically real and relevant insights – just like her writing (which if you haven’t read yet, you should check out). I’m sure you’ll appreciate her wisdom.

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‘Just write. Stay in the creative brain. Don’t question and don’t edit as you go. The aim is to get words on the page.’

This advice relaunched my second novel eighteen months after I’d given up on the manuscript. I decided to write and not worry if the work was good or bad, right or wrong, showing or telling. The first few lines were gibberish. Too bad. I pushed on wanting to launch a creative flow. The more I hit the keys, the better the story flowed. Within six weeks, I finished the novel, typing 70,000 words.

Every time I paused to question what I’d written, I made myself push on. Deletion could happen later if necessary, but it was imperative to stay in the creative flow, to keep writing. This strategy bought unexpected surprises. I loved the story. It was exciting, interesting, fresh and … rough. Rough can be fixed, errors can be rewritten but the plot was fantastic.

Now I apply this principle in many of life’s creative pursuits. The most revelatory is when listening to God. When seeking Him, the beginning of an idea forms in my mind. I used to asses it and often discard the thought before it was properly formed. Now I try to continue in the flow, even with crazy or seemingly sacrilegious ideas. I maintain creative imagination and ask God to use it. Later I can test the thoughts, pictures and ideas against scripture and other standards. Then it is time to use my left brain.

Sometimes God says the most unusual things. Read the Old Testament or Jesus words in New Testament. He often surprised his listeners. Yet for years I have expected God’s words to conform to my judgement and expectations.

In my current work in progress, the protagonist talks to God. And God responds. As I let the words flow, God says the most unexpected things. Instead of stopping and using the delete button, I continue and have my heroine question God. The subsequent revelations have been fascinating, insightful and added depth to my story.

How much wisdom have I missed over the years by reducing the Lord’s voice to my understanding? Now I record everything I think He may have said. I read it and either listen, discard or revisit it in another season of my life when it may speak to those circumstances.

 

579658_3755813086413_1808561116_nJo Wanmer, a Queenslander, loves life, family, and God and writes from her experience of all three. Her first book, Though the Bud be Bruised, was written to share the amazing things God taught her through adversity. This true story is presented as novel, which sparked an interest in further writing. Jo has written two other novels which are being refined at the moment. You can find her on Facebook or trawl through her blog at jo-wanmer.blogspot.com.au

Making the Cut

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MakethecutIt’s fascinating to get inside a movie director’s head by checking out the extra features on a movie. From the Director’s Cut to the making of the film, how intriguing to see the project from the outset through to the finished product. As a writer this is great learning, but I particularly love watching deleted scenes and the accompanying Director’s commentary.

The deleted scenes are often removed for the benefit of the story. I’ve heard directors talk through deleting a fleeting scene where there might be a romantic connection that later weakens a character’s integrity or their interaction with another member of the cast. Other times the scene just doesn’t work or fails to serve a useful purpose in advancing the story.

For instance, in watching the deleted scenes from the recent movie release, Frozen, the directors revealed that for some time Elsa, the newly crowned queen, was going to be a villain throughout the entire story! What a different story that would have been. Would the powerful message of selfless love overcoming the destructiveness of fear and paving the way for healing and restoration have been diluted, if even still possible?

I wonder how many times we’ve wished for a certain scene to be included in our life? Perhaps you’re like me and long to rewrite certain scripts, convinced it should have worked out differently.

But maybe those seemingly non-existent scenes ended up in the delete scenes folder. Maybe what we thought was the best plot for our story, would have actually had a negative impact on the way our journey unfolded – or potentially changed the powerful themes of our story that enable us to connect with and encourage others.

Perhaps instead of wishing for the missing scenes, we should celebrate the ones that made the cut. It doesn’t mean we mightn’t experience a sense of loss as we release sub-plots we felt sure of having, but I think it’s really important not to spend our energy mourning the regrets, the ‘what if’s. How much better to focus on the beautiful elements of the future that await us from where we are right now.

Puzzling

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PuzzlingPicThe puzzle has been on our table for nearly a week now. Each time I walk past, I see small indicators of progress: a section has been filled out more; various details are becoming clearer. Eventually it will look like the picture on the front of the box, but not yet. More work is needed.

The time required to complete this puzzle is much longer than the previous one we did. Our daughter picked them both, but the first was a small 100 piece puzzle with a bouncy puppy on the front. The boundaries were quite clear, the colours distinctive and the pieces large. Quite different to the muted hues bounding the bottom quarter of our current project, rising into a vivid African landscape.

This work-in-progress also has many more pieces of much smaller size. It is further complicated by being a 3D image, meaning you don’t always see clearly what is printed on the piece until you examine it from a few angles. Even then, it often requires a broader perspective, a step back to examine the bigger picture, before its position is apparent. Once a tentative try is met with a fit, the image suddenly becomes clearer.

Circumstances, even our lives, can feel a bit like a puzzle. It might even seem like things have fragmented and we’re left wondering how the pieces will ever fit back together. Often we want things to work out like that small puzzle: quickly resolved by large, well defined pieces with clear positions. But it’s usually more like a big 3D puzzle.

Sometimes the pieces of life don’t seem to fit or we can start to feel they’re incomplete. Other times it’s like most of our time is spent pressing together weird, muddy–coloured parts that risk eye strain to try and make sense of. It can seem like we’re stuck, making no progress at all. Headache inducing frustration can set in.

But just like that big puzzle, we’re learning. We’re glimpsing fragments of a bigger picture.

Our lives are a work-in-progress and from this we can take heart. Even when the puzzle is at its most confusing, rudimentary state—newly upended from the box (do you know that feeling?!) we can start sifting and grouping, piecing and finding edges to make sense of it.

Just as our 3D puzzle is slowly starting to resemble what it was intended to be, so can we have confidence that if we just keep working, piece-by-piece, the intricate plan for which we were purposed will gradually become clearer.

Wherever you are at in life, don’t give up on those pieces. We each have our own set. Eventually they will resemble the picture from which they were forged—a destiny we can only imagine.

Rug Pull

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Has life taken you on all kinds of unexpected adventures? Sometimes you get time to plan ahead and do what you can to make the distance. Other times you can feel like the rug has been pulled out from under your feet!

Some years ago we had a ‘rug pull’ moment. It was actually a months-long struggle that finally ended with a wham! We were on our rears, reeling to work out a) what had happened, and b) how we could possibly get back up after such a fall.

Although there were definitely some ‘angels’ along the way, beyond a few close family members offers of help were rare. It wasn’t that we didn’t try to explain at times, and I don’t think that people didn’t care, but they didn’t get it and we ran out of energy to try communicating. Survival was the goal.

I’d like to say that the ‘rug pull’ was followed by a swift regather and then we were back on our feet, jogging down the path of life as we knew it. Falling on our ends put a lot of things out of reach. We were in a different position. We couldn’t go back to how things had been – and I believe that this was no accident.

We were forced onto new things; to take a different direction in life.

Now, that new road, it was great, right? Actually, it was really hard and nearly fractured us from the inside out. Some days we wondered why we were doing what we were. We felt so far beyond our coping ability that often it was like we were existing, not living. But at least we were going somewhere, albeit slowly.

Although we tumbled down some crater-like potholes along the way, gradually (and I do mean gradually!) a new purpose was revealed, and it was exciting. What had seemed to be an end, proved to be a new beginning and eventually we were able to reflect back on the journey and see the good in it; even feel grateful for our unexpected diversion. Our vision for the future also grew so much larger than we’d ever thought it could be.

The fact is we all face rug pull days or seasons. Perhaps our story strikes a chord for you. Perhaps your world has been turned on its head and you don’t know what to do. Rug pull moments aren’t pretty. They bruise and shake us to the core. BUT if we do what we still can, have faith and hold on, gradually our world will find a new equilibrium. In time, doors will open and behind them we’ll find new purpose. Those doors might look like tiny mouse holes at first – maybe nothing like we expected them to look – but at the end of the long, dim, obstacle infested road, there will be an end. Actually, a new beginning.

No matter where you are in life, whether you’ve landed tail down or are soaring with eagles, pray, never give up, and never stop reaching forward. Even if it feels like you’ve completely lost your way, put one foot after the other until you see some light ahead – for every tunnel has an end. And that’s where the scary unknown gets exciting.

Post-rug pull we’ll never be the same again, but we’ll be facing a new landscape with untold possibilities. The future. Embrace it.

In Position

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For nearly two months now I’ve been trying to jot down blog posts, only to end up with numerous half-done pieces that seemed to be going nowhere. The background to this apparent blogging block began late in February. I was at the stage of awaiting manuscript edits and figured that in the interim, I should set myself a goal to ensure I remained productive. With visions of NaNoWriMo, I began my own personal novel writing month in March.

While plugging towards my goal word count, a submission opportunity arose with a criteria into which the in-progress manuscript fitted nicely. No more personal goal ‘just because’. I had a definite due date and I had to harness every writing chance that I could!

Now it is May. I submitted two days ago, and after a hectic few weeks at work, thought that this might warrant an evening off… Then, bing! The blog ideas started to flow!

I scribbled down thoughts, amused at how I’d had nothing for so long only for it to change in an instant. Self-reflection hinted that perhaps this could have been because my focus was needed elsewhere.

This made me think of a recent netball match I played. A member of the opposition injured their ankle, stopping play. As a current first aider, my instinct was to go to the player to assist, then run for ice. It then dawned on me that there were already people assisting and my attention was required elsewhere. There were two teams relying on me holding my position.

As the player was subbed out and play resumed, I saw that one of their off court team members had already begun applying appropriate first aid. In that instance I could have run off to get ice and assist the player, but it probably would have been a bit annoying for the other players when the umpire whistled for play to continue, only to find a WD missing. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the ability to assist – others were doing that.

I had to position myself in the place I needed to be at that time.

In life there are moments, even seasons, like this. There are numerous examples where we have to prioritise a particular role or activity over another: study; rearing young children; working a less-than-ideal job to pay the mortgage; reducing involvement in particular activities to enable more family time etc. This doesn’t mean that we can’t do other tasks; we just might be prioritising what is most important at that time. I guess it’s a little like driving a car on your side of the road. Sometimes you might get stuck behind a slow vehicle or have to navigate a windy, mountainous road. Though you could attempt to pass recklessly without appropriate caution, the wiser (and safer!) approach would be to wait until the oncoming lane, and our line of sight, is clear.

The reality is these seasons end. And as wisely observed by one of my friends, when stepping back from a particular role for a period to focus on something else, you can give others the opportunity to be involved in a position otherwise unavailable to them. Now I’ve just got to figure out how that works in the blogging application… 🙂