By Elizabeth Goddard, @bethgoddard
It goes without saying that words are important, especially to writers! But I’m going to “say” it anyway, and that’s because I’m making a point. January is the first month of the year and by the time of this post you have probably already created your list of goals (read Successful Writers Make Lists) Maybe you’ve even already started and given up on your resolutions! I hope not.
More importantly, I hope you have taken time in prayer and received your WORD for the year. If the word for the year isn’t something you’ve practiced or are familiar with, I’m sure you’ve at least heard others mention their word for the year. I can’t say that I have always actively looked for that one word to define my coming year, but usually HE makes sure I have that one Word.
He’s big on WORDS. After all, He spoke the universe into being with one word and breathed life into us with a word.
If you search the internet for “word of the year” you’ll find all kinds of ideas on how to choose that one word. This word is used to help you focus on one thing instead of or in addition to goals and resolutions. But I think it’s important for you to listen closely to Him and find your Word for the year. Allowing Him to direct your path is always better than trying to choose your word all on your own.
One word can be life-changing.
I’ll go ahead and share my one word for this year. Again, I wasn’t exactly asking God to give me the word, but it kept hitting me in the face and after a while—I’m no dummy—I just KNEW this was my word.
FRUIT.
I know, I know. . .it doesn’t sound like a word to guide me. But it encompasses so much about what I want to see in my life today, this week and the coming months.
And years.
I’m talking the fruit of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV).
I want my life to be filled with all of the above fruit. Not only joy or peace, but all of it. I can’t have that fruit unless I’m walking in the Spirit. Unless my heart and mind are controlled by His Spirit.
Right about now you might be wondering what this had to do with writing. This is a writing blog, after all.
Friend, what’s in your heart makes its way onto the page of your novel and then into the hands of readers. As a Christian writer, you’re called to write by the Creator and your biggest responsibility as a writer is to spread the good news. Maybe in your novels that good news message isn’t overt, but it’s there nonetheless. God will make sure the message gets to the right person at the right time—through your writing!
As a Christian writer, pouring out your heart, putting words on paper, is one of the most important jobs on the planet!
That’s why I believe it’s VITAL to start out your year with the ONE WORD that will guide you and keep you on track with Him and in your writing.
What’s your word for the year?
As a forensic genealogist, Willow Anderson is following in her late grandfather’s footsteps in her quest for answers about a baby abducted from the hospital more than twenty years ago. The case may be cold, but things are about to heat up when someone makes an attempt on her life to keep her from discovering the truth.
Ex-FBI agent–and Willow’s ex-flame–Austin McKade readily offers his help to protect the woman he never should have let get away. Together they’ll follow where the clues lead them, even if it means Austin must face the past he’s spent much of his life trying to forget. And even if it puts Willow’s tender heart at risk.
In this fast-paced and emotional page-turner, bestselling author Elizabeth Goddard keeps the stakes high, the romantic tension sparking, and the outcome uncertain until the very end.
Elizabeth Goddard is the bestselling, award-winning author of more than thirty romance novels and counting, including the romantic mystery, THE CAMERA NEVER LIES–a 2011 Carol Award winner. Four of her six Mountain Cove books have been contest finalists. Buried, Backfire and Deception are finalists in the Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery and Suspense, and Submerged is a Carol Award finalist. A 7th generation Texan, Elizabeth graduated from North Texas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and worked in high-level software sales for several years before retiring to homeschool her children and fulfill her dreams of writing full-time.