|
It’s
been one year since the first The Well Writer article appeared in this
awesome Christian Fiction Online Magazine. It’s
been a wonderful year of encouragement, information, and
thought-provoking questions regarding multiple aspects of your health.
The team approached questions in a number of different and creative
ways.
I started with the question “Are
You a Healthy Writer?” It’s easy to allow other priorities in our lives
to interfere with taking care of ourselves. I asked another question:
“Did you know that Sir Winston Churchill suffered from depression? He
called it his Black Dog” (http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/). We
must remember that our health is a priority and that includes our
mental health. Dr. Richard Mabry got us ready for the ACFW Conference
last September with his post about staying healthy at conference:
“Going to Conference? Don’t Be a Typhoid Mary.” He reminded us that, “a
major part of prevention is hand washing.”
Serena B. Miller took us through
the difficulties of “Writing and Keeping Deadlines Through a Family
Illness,” using her husband’s illness in this situation, and taught us
how the importance of routine can make a difference. “Each small
routine helped me feel just a little more in control, a little more
like maybe we could get through this.” In November, Megan DiMaria, in
“Writers―Be Refreshed,” reminded us of the importance of taking care of
our creativity by taking care of us: “To maintain creativity, a writer
needs to stay refreshed by nurturing good physical, spiritual, and
emotional health.”
December’s Christmas issue
wrapped up 2011 with a beautiful bouquet by Pepper Basham and her
article entitled “Life as a Manuscript.” Pepper said, “But just as our
characters cannot flee the pages of our books, no matter how horribly
wrong our choices become, our lives are still bound within the love of
God and covered by His protective will. We cannot outrun it, break it,
or stop it. We can’t mess up the pages so much that they’re beyond His
editing power.”
Kathi Lipp rang in the New Year
of 2012 with her awesome sense of humor in “Goal Making for a
Struggling Writer (or What the Writing Books Never Tell You).” How’s
that for starting the year right? And Kathi wondered if a nonfiction
writer would be welcome on the team. Silly girl. Make short, stupid
Goals, she wrote. “Stupid goals are the reason we all love a good
NaNoWriMo Challenge. Writing 50,000 words in thirty days? Crazy. But
sometimes a little crazy is what is required to get things done.”
Then
February rolled around and Valentine’s Day was on our minds as I wrote
about “Heart Rhythms.” “To be strong writers we need to take good care
of all aspects of our hearts. God is revealed in the love in our
relationships and the love that shines through in our writing.” I
discussed wounded hearts, poetic
|
hearts, loving hearts , and heart
disease. The month of March zoomed in with Kathi Lipp again and her
thoughts on “Waste Your Words: A Recovering Word Hoarder’s Guide to
Marketing.” Kathi encouraged us to use great words rather than save
them for the next best thing. “Waste your words. That’s the great thing
about being an author, you get to make up new ones.”
Serena Miller introduced us to
“Lessons from the Amish” in April. She said this of one special family:
“A seventy-three-year-old mother of twelve grown children told me that
their family had been blessed with uncommonly good health—part of which
she attributed to her husband having trained himself in reflexology
(the holistic practice of massaging certain pressure points in the
feet) and had spent hours massaging their children’s feet over the
years when they were not feeling well. She said they found this
practice to have great healing properties.”
“The Resilient Writer” was my
topic in May. I discussed the importance of positive thinking, knowing
your strengths and weaknesses, developing a fitness plan, and seeking
counseling as needed. We have to learn how to bounce back from all
kinds of stressors in this world, including rejection. Megan DiMaria
explored “Boundaries: AKA Establishing Time and Space to Write
Effectively.” She encouraged us with many ideas, such as using a timer,
keeping goals in mind, and having accountability partners. Megan
reminded us, “To be successful, you must protect your writing time.
Don’t feel as if it’s an act of selfishness. If you’re called to write,
it’s up to you to carve out the time and space to do it.”
Pepper D. Basham wrapped up our
year in July with thoughts about coping with “Fear and Overload” by
reminding us of whose we are. She recommends that if we get distracted,
we should fill our minds with the truth of God. We were created for a
purpose, and within the folds of that purpose is the call to write. She
reminds us that fear cannot win against Jesus. He conquered it all.
My thanks to this group of
writers who have joined me this past year to help us find ways to
remain well, physically, mentally, and spiritually in the challenging
world in which we live. If you’ve missed any of these articles, please
go to the Archives whenever you have a chance. We look forward to
bringing you another year of wellness thoughts and ideas so that you
may continue to create and thrive in God’s purpose for your lives.
|
