Reading Blogs

I've been reading a few blogs on writing the last few days. Very interesting. I keep thinking, "I don't want to discuss it or write about it, I want to do it!"

I learn a lot from reading. I'm reading Colleen Coble and Charles Martin right now. Simultaneously. Very different books. Very different styles, but I love them both. Mostly I look for wording, phrasing, how they put their stories together.

I've learned from my crit partners. I've learned from Kristin Billerbeck. Just little comments she's made in email, or in something of mine she's read. Of course, reading her chick lits.

I'd prefer a down load from God, you know. Ta-da! I'm a brilliant writer. Like guys who just "get" math. Or can sit down at the keyboard or drums and play.

Well, now that I think about it. Even then, they have to work at it to be good. Work really hard to be great! I know quite a few people who are just natural musicians. But I only know one who is fabulous. She went to college and studied music. It makes her stand out.

So, let's say I got said down load from God. I'd still have to work at writing. Polish my gift. Learn how to use it. Even someone brilliant at math still has to take the courses, work the problems. They just "get it" quicker and easier than the rest of us.

I had a friend who couldn't do math. Turned out he had a pea on his brain. Yeah, a pea sized tumor. Had it removed and he could suddenly do math. He still didn't like math, but he finally understood it.

Think I got a pea on the brain? LOL. No. My doctor says I'm healthy as a horse. "Which horse?" I asked. A sway-back mare or Afleet Alex?

I've decided. Writing is a journey. Prayer is a journey. Our life in God is a journey. We cannot separate our place at His feet from our place in this world. We find ourselves and our identity at His feet, by the beating of His heart toward us. Then, we cut a swath in the forest of life.

Otherwise, life cuts a swath in us.