Who cares?

Being an author is a difficult life. You have to want to write more than anything else in the world. If you feel "called" to be an author....the difficult life becomes more complicated.



Very few authors are hermits. Hermits do not make good authors. As authors we need to be out there - observing and living life. Authentic writing stems from the fact that we are in the trenches with everyone else.


While everyone else can concentrate 100% on their families, their jobs and their external relationships - authors are often distracted. The average Joe can put his life into categories. For example, the norm is to eat breakfast with the family, go to work while they go to school etc.., come home and spend time with the family, spend time with friends on the week-end and spend time at church on Sunday. Each area of his life has a category.


An author's life is much different. While we are eating breakfast with the family, we scribble a funny saying on a napkin. While we are at work we scribble thoughts on a notepad. If you are a full time writer, we are thinking of family and friends so we have something to write about. In the evening while spending time with the family we have a notepad close by for those moments of inspiration. Watching TV can cause us to write furiously. Going out with friends sparks a great conversation that must be recorded.....and on and on and on.


In other words....we are constantly working and looking for that nugget of gold that will lead to an article or book that just might inspire our readers.


Have you ever been enjoying the company of friends only to realize you haven't heard the last few statements because you were thinking about your article?


On a discouraging day I wondered, who cares? Why does it matter so much? What if I don't write that book....will the world just crumble? I'm driving myself nuts over something that might not matter.


I prayed most of the day and finally asked God to give me a scripture. I thought about the passage in John where Jesus asked Peter three times, "Do you truly love me, more than these?" (John 21:15-19)


I turned to that passage and read beyond that situation. Peter was looking at John and wondering if he was going to live forever. Then my eyes centered on verse 24. I'm not a great theologian so maybe this means something different but on that day - it spoke volumes to me.

John 21:24


This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.


What a wonderful goal for an author - To be God's recorder. To be trusted with the truth. To be counted on for accuracy, compassion, strength, passion, inspiration and a host of other virtues. How exciting to be the person who keeps it straight for all those busy people with compartmentalized lives.


Are you an author that the world can count on? Are you diligently "recording" life and pointing to truth?


God loves you and has called you to write,


Debbie