by Jeanne Takenaka, @JeanneTakenaka
Have you ever thought about how we choose courage as writers?
I used to think courage had to be some big, bold action that impacted the world. Like “Iron Man sacrificing his life to save the world from aliens” big.
Turns out, acting courageously begins with a simple choice.
Courage in our writing lives includes the determination to show up and write, even when life is hard. When our stories don’t come together, the temptation to give up, clean the house, or organize our photos allures us more than sitting in front of a white screen.
How to choose courage in our writing lives:
Show up and do the work.
When we sit in front of that screen to write, the enemy of our souls will do anything to prevent us from fulfilling the calling God’s given us. Distraction and discouragement are some of his favorite tools. When we feel blocked or discouraged, pray and ask God for inspiration. We can do non-writing activities to get our minds off of being stuck.
Invite God into the process and trust Him to guide our stories.
Before I ever type a word on the keyboard, I begin with prayer inviting God into this day’s work. We choose courage by asking for His guidance and we listen, He will show us what we need for that work session.
Then, we must trust Him to guide our stories. Our characters may venture in a completely unplanned direction, changing the story. This is scary sometimes! Asking the Lord for confirmation and inspiration or for redirection and inspiration helps us to keep moving forward.
Put in our best effort and don’t be afraid to say no to other things.
This way of choosing courage can feel daunting in a culture where we’re always supposed to say yes. In order to give my best to my writing, I’ve had to say no to other good things. When we ask God to sift the good from the best in our lives, it’s easier to say no to things that don’t line up with our callings to write. And then, we need to give our writing our all. God blesses the work of our hands when we work wholeheartedly for His glory.
The most important thing:
Trust the results to God.
We’re taught to write to a certain audience, “our avatar.” So, we craft our stories, with God’s guidance, to be pleasing to our specific readers. But what do we do after we’ve done our best and sent our babies to our editors? We choose courage. We trust the story into God’s hands. We don’t fret about our sales. We rely on God to place our stories in the hands of those who need to read it. We do what we must for the marketing, but we don’t push to open the doors only God can open. We fulfill our role and trust God to fulfill His in getting our books out there.
The wait for forward movement feels daunting. Especially when we’re under a deadline, being stuck pressures us to just work. But when our minds refuse to cooperate with that edict, we must ease the tension building inside.
No, our stories probably won’t save the world from dastardly villains, but they may change one life for the good. And, if you’re like me, they change our lives as well. As we trust God to grow us and guide our stories, we choose courage in the trusting.
Award-winning, aspiring novelist and blogger Jeanne Takenaka writes contemporary fiction that highlights how faith and grace hold hands in relationships with people and with God. She, her husband, and two boy-men call Colorado home. She loves being a God-seeker, hanging out with friends, and savoring oat milk lattés. When she’s not writing, you can find her, camera in hand, searching for #alittlebitofpretty. She’s a member of ACFW and Novel Academy.