Tag: writing

Posted in Thoughts from Life

Investment

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

As I went through my early morning routine, the thoughts were rolling. My overactive brain was fleshing out not one blog post idea but two, both begging to be released through my fingertips.

As soon as possible, I sat down at the computer. And almost immediately it all dried up. All of the eloquent words flowing through my brain. All of the passionate ideas welling up inside me. They weren’t necessarily gone. They were just…flat, refusing to come together in any coherent manner.

Frustrated with the lack of flow, it became easy to get distracted by the nature of the day. Conversations with various family members and little tasks here and there were much easier to focus on than the flashing cursor and impossible words. I tapped out a few notes and thoughts to make sure I was doing some writing, but, for the most part, I was derailed.

This isn’t a first for me. And it’s not just about writing, either. It happens with other projects and activities. Even chores, if I’m honest, but it’s really not hard to distract me from those tasks! The catch is that I usually do get back to chores or work tasks simply because it’s the responsible thing to do. It’s only the nourishing things I walk away from. Go figure.

Far too often, I never get back to the nourishing things. I let the realities of life leave me derailed. Sometimes it’s simply that I set aside a particular writing prompt thought or a specific project. Other times, I stall out completely, ignoring writing or working on any kind of project for weeks, months, or even years on end. I welcome distractions as excuses. I know the activity will be nourishing and that I should invest. But when it doesn’t flow easily, when it takes a lot of work, it’s easier to set it aside and invest energy in life’s essentials instead.

I don’t think it’s that I’m lazy. I think it’s that there’s something in my brain that tells me these things aren’t really worth my time. They’re selfish. They’re purposeless. They’re useless. I’m really not that great at them anyway. Why waste the time, both mine and other people’s? Why let these activities clutter the day?

Unfortunately, the productivity mantra of our culture not only supports those thoughts of uselessness but also gets hammered into our heads on a daily basis. We act on it, even as it systematically wears us down and makes it increasingly harder to actually do the things that nourish us.

And it’s all a lie. Sadly, even if we know it’s a lie, it’s a hard one to get around.

Nourishment is not useless or pointless or purposeless, nor is it selfish. I can tell someone else that all day long, but it takes a lot more work to convince myself of it. Far too often I don’t have what it takes to both convince myself to keep going and stick with the original plan.

Like that day everything dried up. I jotted down notes for the ideas that had been overflowing in me earlier in the morning, but then I did set them all aside. I walked away from the frustration of fighting both the battle of uselessness and the battle of getting those thoughts back. I chose to save them for another day. I still haven’t gotten back to them, even months later. But maybe someday I will.

The important thing about that morning, though, wasn’t that I saved up thoughts for the future. Instead, it was that I didn’t let myself give up. I came back from my distraction and chose a different topic. I wrote totally different words. I affirmed the nourishing action, even if the specific details of the nourishment didn’t work out as planned.

Losing those thoughts wasn’t an isolated event. The same thing has happened multiple times in the months since that specific day. Sometimes I’ve handled it well and other times I haven’t. But I know one thing for sure: investing in nourishment was never a bad idea. And the times I walked away and didn’t invest almost always led to greater exhaustion.

Today I was tempted to walk away again, this time without even trying to sit down and write. But I knew I needed nourishment, and that nourishment required investment. So, here I am, reinforcing the truth by writing about it.

Maybe next time I’ll be even more motivated to push forward and invest in the work of nourishment until it’s a steady habit again, one that overcomes the voice of stark productivity. One that strengthens my tendency to walk toward nourishment instead of away from it.

Posted in Thoughts from Others

Before the Experience

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

There is a wise bit of advice often given to writers: write what you know. Obviously, knowledge of a topic can come either from experience or research, and there is a very solid place for research. (My amazing hubby’s research for his dissertation, for instance, is giving him a great deal of understanding!). But when it comes to writing about walking through life, it has often seemed to me that research without experience can lead to a sense of untested idealism. Advice is tied up in a neat package, but it leaves readers in the trenches feeling like failures because their experience doesn’t fit into the neat package that a writer presents.

I’m a practical person, so I tend to get frustrated by those who write out of a sense of idealism. This is why I have long felt that I need to have experience before I write. I need to be able to say, “I’ve been there!” Experience shines a light into corners that research never reaches, granting a sense of companionship and camaraderie between the writer and the reader. Because of this conviction, I’ve put certain topics on the shelf, convinced that I really don’t have a solid leg to stand on when it comes to writing on those topics, no matter how passionate I was about them and how much I’d studied them.

Then along came the story of an author I follow, and suddenly my conviction waffled.
Don’t get me wrong — I still don’t like untried idealism. But…well, let me tell you about Shelly Miller, and you’ll understand what I mean.

I first “met” Shelly Miller through her book Rhythms of Rest: Finding the Spirit of Sabbath in a Busy World. I’d been studying Sabbath as my family attempted to begin incorporating it into the fabric of our weekly lives, and Rhythms of Rest provided another source of insight. I found Shelly to be real and accessible, her insights presented from the perspective of one who had pushed through the complications of observing Sabbath in a culture that, well, didn’t. And, to top it all off, she knew what it meant to figure out Sabbath from within the world of ministry. All in all, Rhythms of Rest was obviously a book that stemmed from experience. I could trust Shelly to tell me like it was, not spout of some idealistic nonsense that a homeschooling pastor’s wife like me could never implement.

In late 2019, I started noticing references to a new book by Shelly Miller, one that would come out in 2020. It was entitled Searching for Certainty: Finding God in the Disruptions of Life. I immediately put it on my wish list. I knew the Millers had experienced their ups and downs, their times of struggle and uncertainty. I knew, once again, that I could trust her.

That was proven a few months later when Shelly was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Suddenly, the book she’d already written — the one that was just waiting to process through the steps necessary to get it to publication — was coming back to strengthen her. She found herself revisiting all that she had explored, studied, and researched to compile this book, almost afraid that it wouldn’t hold up to a real disruption. But it did. All that she’d studied was now proving true in her life, and she was drawing real comfort from the truths she’d written about.

Don’t get me wrong…she’d known before what it meant to find God in disruptions and uncertainties. But she was now experiencing a disruption greater than any she’d experienced before. And the truths were still holding up. God had prepared her. She thought she was sharing with her readers. Instead, she was storing up truths for what she and her family were about to face.

How powerful that the last book she’d ever get to write would also hold the very truths that she’d have to lean on to get her through her final months on earth.

So the question comes to me: Do I trust my God to be big enough to teach me truths before the experience, truths that will hold firm during the experience?

You see, there is research and study and experience. Then there is God. There’s a God who can teach us what we need before we need it. There’s a God who can build in us and prepare us and strengthen us. There’s training and growth that comes from experience, and then there’s training and growth that comes simply because we’re daily immersing ourselves in the Word, allowing ourselves to be taught by the Spirit, and dwelling in the presence of a holy, omniscient God who loves us and desires to equip us in every way.

That’s the God I want to serve.

The God who can teach me through it all.

While on the one hand, I need to be willing to admit when what I’ve said, taught, or written has been rife with idealism (because, trust me, I’ve been guilty of that!). But, sometimes I need to go ahead and say it, then prove that God is who He says He is when the time comes for the lessons to be tested.

Posted in What I Do, Work & Life

Should I Say That?

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

Years ago, I started writing because random thoughts would hit my brain and I’d want to flesh them out. Then I’d want to share them. There isn’t always a lot of consistency to those thoughts. Sometimes they are triggered by my morning Bible reading. Other times relational interaction give me pause.

There are responses to events around me, random mental pictures that I want to flesh out, new habits and practices that work for me that I want to share, and just general thoughts or ideas that come to mind.

Sometimes these ideas flow faster than I can process them. Other times it can be a disturbingly long time between ideas. But that’s another discussion for another day. (Yes, I have notes on it already!)

For today, though, the thought is this: should I really write about everything that comes to mind?

You probably already know the answer to that. It’s a resounding NO for a wide variety of reasons. But I’m not always incredibly wise about how I invest my writing time. So, I need to set myself some guidelines and boundaries to help me process what to say. And that’s what I have to say today…a glimpse into those guidelines!

Does it stick?

The best ideas are those that have staying power. The ones that I can set aside and then come back to and still know how to flesh out — and maybe even have the ability to flesh them out better than when I first had the ideas.

Now, this doesn’t mean it just floats around in my head. I’ve lost a lot of great, “sticky” ideas by not writing them down! But, if I can jot down a few notes (a brief theme or title followed by 3-5 sentences or bullet points to serve as reminders) then come back a few days, weeks, or even months later and flesh it out, it’s definitely an idea that has stuck. That makes it worth considering.

Does it grow?

Mental images of The Blob aside, good ideas really need to grow and evolve. What starts as a brain tickle needs to develop substance if it’s going to be useful for myself or anyone else.

Even a “sticky” idea can prove to have little more substance than those brief notes I jotted down. While the lack of growth doesn’t mean it never needs to be shared, it’s really not worth it to take those few bullet points and just add fluff without substance. There’s enough of that floating around. I don’t need to add to it. There are other avenues for sharing those thoughts. After all, if we would all share a few more brief, positive thoughts on social media, it might be a more encouraging place to hang out!

Does it relate?

This is a big one. I have written a lot of things that have never seen the light of day. They stay on my computer or in my journal. Why? Because they aren’t relevant to anyone other than me. That’s not to say that there aren’t other people processing the same things. But, there are certain things we shouldn’t throw out into the wild. If we share them, they should be shared privately with individuals for the purpose of encouraging and strengthening one another.

While nothing I write is relevant to everyone, it’s important to have wisdom to know when what I write is not really relevant for public sharing at all.

Does it honor Christ?

Not everything I write is a Bible thought. It doesn’t always have a spiritual theme or express ideas of faith.

And yet…

I am a Christian. That means I am a citizen of the kingdom of God. My number one priority in life should be allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father. Period. Even if I am writing a random tip about life, it should never, ever contradict that allegiance. My writing can’t be neutral. It is either nourishing others in their lives of allegiance — or sparking the interest of those outside the kingdom — or it is an act of rebellion. Treason. There is no middle ground.

That can sound harsh, but when you swear allegiance to something, it’s an all or nothing reality. You are either for or against. No one is ever truly neutral.

So, the things I write should reflect that I am growing in the fruit of the Spirit, even if I struggle in that growth, and that I hunger to serve my Lord.

Am I always diligent to answer all of these questions before I write or publish something? No, I’m not. But when I look back on what I’ve written over the years, the things that fit all of these are the ones that still hold true (and that I still like even after all this time). I hope that in the coming years I will become increasingly faithful to hold to these guidelines, confident in the words that are pouring forth from my fingers.

Posted in Thoughts from Life, What I Do

Day Two

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

Day One was a good day. Well, for writing at least.

All of my timing worked out. Even with a slightly sluggish start to the morning, I got in my exercise, morning devotional reading, and school with my son and still had time to spare before I needed to clock into work.

So, I sat down to a blank screen and had just over 1000 words written before it was time to quit. For the first time in a while, the ideas and the words came together to flow into productivity.

On the one hand, that’s a great thing. Day One success can be so helpful to get up and do Day Two. Then Day Three. Making it a habit.

But, Day One success can also be a struggle.

The very next morning, I procrastinated for 30 minutes. I wrote some reviews because that was easy and safe. I sent a couple of check-in chats on Marco Polo. I cleared my inbox.

Why?

Because I was scared to sit down to another blank screen and not have Day Two go like Day One did. On Day One, I had ideas before I ever sat down. On Day Two, I was going to have to sit down first and see if the ideas came to me.

That’s just plain intimidating.

And for over half an hour, I let that fear and intimidation keep me from even trying. I let it eat away at the time I had available to write. I let it distract me.

But I finally made it. I started tapping away at the keyboard, and the very experience of the morning gave me something to write about. I didn’t have as much time to write because of all the time I wasted. I wouldn’t make it to 1000 words. I probably wouldn’t even make half that. But I showed up, and that very act showed me that I actually did have something to say.

Here’s the deal, though. On Day Three — or Day Twelve or Day One Hundred and Fifty-Seven — I might actually sit down to a blank screen and have…nothing. At some point, my fears will become reality.

But I’m also realizing something else. On those days I’ll still have something to do. I’ll have a folder of rough drafts ready to be edited. I’ll have a folder of completed drafts ready to be published. I’ll have something to work with. Why? Because I sat down on Day One and turned my thoughts into typed words. I sat down on Day Two and conquered my intimidation.

On Day Two, I confirmed the habit of doing it anyway. Of sitting down with the intention of working toward being a writer once again. This is a part of me that has been dormant for far too long. And because of that, I’ve been incomplete. I need this.

So, I’ll do it.

I’ll do it on the days when I have the ideas before I even sit down to the computer — and then enjoy seeing those ideas materialize into coherent content. I’ll do it on the days when I have the ideas but then can’t seem to get them out coherently. I’ll do it on the days when there are no ideas beforehand, but something comes to me because I make myself do it anyway.

I’ll do it on the days when there’s nothing. Absolutely nothing. At all.

What have you allowed to slip? What have you not done because you’re not getting around to being yourself? What have you allowed intimidation to keep you from doing?

What can you do today to get started? To reinforce what you’ve started but are afraid to continue? To keep going even when you’ve hit a dry spell on something that’s been going so well? To grow and improve in something you’ve been doing diligently?

No matter the obstacles before you today…do it anyway.

Posted in What I Do, Work & Life

Do It Anyway

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

I’m a writer.

For a long time, I resisted referring to myself that way. I did not feel that my piddly efforts truly qualified me to claim the title. I accepted the title of blogger. I talked about my love for writing. But, a writer? No, that was a title for someone who made a living writing. Someone who did not have a gazillion other things taking precedence. Someone I could only hope to be someday.

My husband finally helped me realize my faulty reasoning. I may not be writing the way I would love to be writing, but I am a writer. I can’t get away from that reality.

Unfortunately, being a writer does not automatically mean it comes easily. It does not always produce the results I hope for or flow as consistently as I would desire. The blog I hope to keep constantly fresh sometimes remains stagnant. The stories and ideas that have floated in my head for years are still there, changing, evolving, and growing as they wait to be birthed.

But one thing I have learned is this: if I do not write, I do not produce. If I do not write regularly, I do not write well. If I do not remain in practice, I do not enjoy writing. It still stirs within me. I still feel compelled to do it. But, it is much harder than it should be. My brain does not work as it should – not just in writing, but in all areas of life!

So, I have learned a very important lesson: I have to just go ahead and write. Constantly. Continuously. No matter what it is or where it ends up. It might remain in a Scrivener note, hiding away until I revisit it months or years later to re-evaluate whether or not it is even worth publishing. It might be something for work that will not even bear my name. Perhaps it is something that will go into another publication. Maybe it is a letter or e-mail, expressing my thoughts to a friend or a reference helping another friend secure a job or position.

I have to go ahead and write even if the thought is terrible. Even if the flow just won’t come. Even if the idea is good, but the implementation will need a lot of work before anyone can make any sense of it.

Whatever the case may be, I just have to do it.

There are a lot of things that stand in the way of writing. Time pressures of life as I balance homeschooling, work, and ministry responsibilities with being available to my family and being engaged with friends. Negative thoughts and feelings that flow through my mind on a daily basis telling me I’m not good enough. A to-do list that screams, “This is more important!” The extra things of design and social interaction that seem required in the writing world these days – things I’m not really that good at. The need to learn more about writing, even as I’m working to do it with what I know.

So many things try to distract and derail me. But, I have to do it anyway.

What is it that you need to “do anyway”? What talents and skills has God laid upon you that must be practiced, honed, and utilized daily? What is it that seems to be threatened on all sides by the rest of life?

Whatever it may be, do it anyway. It’s worth it. Then encourage someone else – including me! I may not like it, but I know I’ll need the reminder tomorrow.

Posted in Faith Nuggets

Willing to Work

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

I find it funny when people say, “Oh, I could never do _________. I’m not ________ enough.” Go ahead – just fill in the blank. You just might be able to remember at time when you have said just such a thing. I know I can!
As is frequently the case, God has used both life in general and my children specifically to make me completely rethink my “I could never” statements. Take my oldest child, for instance.

No Outlet

For years I have marveled at the stories floating around in my daughter’s mind. She is so incredibly creative, and she has concocted entire worlds in her imagination. For years, I tried to figure out how to get those worlds out of her head and into a form that she could share with others. When she was little, I had this notion that, as soon as she learned how to write, she would be able to keep a journal and just write everything out. When she finally did learn how to write, however, it didn’t take long for that notion to crumble.

The physical act of writing proved to be excruciatingly tedious for my sweet girl. She could draw all day long. But handwriting was a completely different story. She hated it. And I finally accepted the fact that my sweet girl would never write. She finally accepted that it was okay to hate writing, even though she needed to learn the basic skills involved. But when it came to those stories, I was determined to not give up. We would just have to get them on paper another way.

Discovery

Fast forward a few years. As my daughter grew older, she learned a new skill: typing. Or keyboarding. Or whatever it is called these days. She learned how to push the letter keys on a computer keyboard in quick succession to cause letters and words to appear on a computer screen, an action that opened a whole new world to her. And created quite a shock for her mother!

First, she wrote a nearly perfect book report without help. Then, single-paragraph writing assignments for school became easier for her.

But it didn’t stop there! I nearly fell out of my chair the day she said, “Mommy, I got to write three paragraphs in language arts today!”

Got to? GOT to? Whatever happened to “had to”?

It got better still. She followed that statement up with, “It was fun!” I almost cried.

A few days later, I walked into the living room to see her propped up before a laptop, tapping away.

“What are you doing?” I asked, curious.

“Writing a fantasy novel,” came her matter-of-fact reply. Later than night she asked me to help her set a daily writing goal. Yes, that time I really did cry.

Work for It!

My child thought she hated to write. But she discovered she just needed the right avenue through which to do it.
All of us have dreams and talents. But, we often find ourselves limited when it comes to actually turning those dreams into reality or utilizing those talents. So, we hole up. Or give up. Or push it all down. We neglect to fight for those dreams. We refuse to push for ways to express our talents. We are unwilling to think outside the box.
Scripture is full of evidence that God is not limited by normalcy. Story after story reveals how He worked creatively, uniquely, and unexpectedly in the lives of biblical heroes. The incredible reality is that you and I are no different. Were our talents and dreams to be fulfilled through normal ways, how often would we give glory to our Creator? But, when He makes us turn to Him for a creative solution, He is glorified as the world watches what only He can accomplish through us.

I have been privileged to read some of my daughter’s novel and peruse several related short stories. It is so obvious to me that God made no mistake when He created an incredibly imaginative child who hated to write. She had to blossom. She had to push. And now, she loves writing more than she ever would have had she not had to work for it.
What are you willing to work for?