Turning the Pages Series: Seasons

How Seasons Affect Our Writing
Turning the Pages Series
Net's Notations Tuesdays

Sure feels like fall here—cooler temps, darker skies, more rain and lots of color on our deciduous trees. Ahhh … autumn.

Time to put away the patio furniture, grab the rake and prepare for winter.

In summer, we can step outside without a coat or shoes to let our dog out. In fall, we’ll have to keep slip-ons by the back door.

In summer, I can grab a book, a lawn chair, and my sunglasses and read in the sunshine, soaking up some Vitamin D. In fall, all the reading happens indoors.

In summer, the kids are home from school, with an open schedule. Near the beginning of fall, they start back to school, have to stick to a schedule and more is expected of them by outside sources.

New seasons call for new actions, new approaches to familiar territory, and visiting of new territory. New seasons call us to answer to different authority figures, meet different deadlines, change our schedules.

Isn’t that true in our writing seasons, too? Some writing seasons are for “penning” that first draft. Others are for editing. And then others are for submitting. Then, *hopefully* there comes a season of answering to an editor for your book. What used to be yours is now shared.

Are you aware of the season you’re in? Maybe you’re a parent of small children, and the focus is on them. Maybe you’ve started a new job and are still adjusting to fitting everything into your schedule.

The key is to know the season you’re in, make the appropriate changes for that season and follow through. A student can be all prepared for the school year, but if she never attends classes, never sits under the teaching, never studies, she’s not truly engaged in her season, and she won’t reap the benefits of all her preparation.

God may be turning the pages of your writing season right now. Are you on the same page as He is? Be glad for new seasons, they mean you’re growing, moving ahead.

Now, go ahead, peek at that new page the Author of your faith is penning. Together, start at the top and work your way down. It's going to be good.