Saturday, August 29, 2020

Using My Words

I’m not highly trained in writing and unlike a good friend I don’t have a degree in English. He is my go to for the proper use of apostrophes and semicolons and such. But I still search my public writings to see if I used lose or loose as I tend to use one in place of the other frequently.

I began to write in this space in 2002 and the discipline required to do that turned out to be quite a good thing in my life. I gained a lot of practice working with words, exploring them, playing with them, just enjoying them and the power they carried to communicate. It was a very fulfilling time.

As a result over the years I received more and more invitations to write for publications. Our local city paper was open to publish any article I would write. Denominational magazines would invite me to prepare articles for them. I was able to sell a few pieces, even to a national newspaper, which puffed me up considerably.

I always wondered if I had a book in me, and then I would read a book written by some fellow which would convince me once again that there were too many books in the world already. I didn’t want to add to the book noise out there and the thought of another tree giving its life so that an inexperienced writer wannabe could fulfil some sort of unrealistic dream, well that filled me with dread.

So I write here, and occasionally on other online places. I write sermons and church constitution changes. Brochure information and signs, motions and the like. I write letters of release, letters of reference, and simply letters to others. It’s a part of my work here now. It’s good challenging work, but not always inspiring.

So when I am invited to write for magazines etc. I usually am quick to say yes to the challenge.

This photo is the result of my recent invitation to write. The topic was how we as people of faith, can bloom where we are planted. (The July/August 2020 copy of the Recorder) It was a good challenge this summer and my live in editor (Lauralea ever since college) helped it read even better.

It’s still an enjoyable exercise and a wonderful discipline for me and there are still things to say. So for now we carry on.


3 comments:

  1. "I would read a book written by some fellow which would convince me once again that there were too many books in the world already"

    Yup. Thought that's not suggesting YOU shouldn't write a book.

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  2. So far I haven’t found a book waiting or needing to be written. :)

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  3. I'd still like to write a science fiction story (one might say I already have, but at least I usually have the data to back up my reports!) but it will probably never happen.

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