Time to Cut Loose the Anchors by Sandy Kirby Quandt

Relentless attacks, hijacks, and a temporary shutdown by the host of my blog this past spring, coupled with the rejection of two manuscripts under consideration for nine months, and losing a writing contest by 0.5 points caused me to re-evaluate whether I had what it took to continue writing. Fear and discouragement pushed out trust and hope.

I told God I quit. I couldn’t do it anymore. I was done writing. I threw out my anchor and refused to type one more word. For a time at least.

While I wrestled with God over the future of my writing, I re-read the story in Acts 27 of the Apostle Paul’s shipwreck. While on his way to Rome as a prisoner, Paul’s ship ran into a life-threatening storm. Fear consumed the passengers but it didn’t consume Paul. Knowing there was little they could do about the storm, he encouraged his fellow shipmates to put their trust in the ability of the One who created the wind and the waves to keep them safe.

During the storm’s worst, the men threw out the ship’s anchors. They tied ropes around the rudders to keep the ship immobile. They lowered the sail, and stayed put to wait out the storm.

Two weeks later, daylight came. With land in sight, the men cut loose the anchors which kept them from moving forward and abandoned them in the sea. They untied the ropes which held the rudders in place. They hoisted the foresail to the wind, hung on, and headed to shore.

How many times in the middle of our storms have we thrown out the anchor, tied down the rudder, lowered the sail, and refused to move forward? We see the storm before us, whatever our storm might be, look at our inability to control it, and throw our hands in the air. We forget the one who created the storm placed it in front of us for a reason. To grow our trust and prove he is able.
When we reach the point where we allow our faith to beat out our fears, and hope to defeat discouragement then we’re willing to cut loose the anchors, untie the rudders, hoist the sail, and hang on for the ride. We’re committed. We've released our life into the All-Powerful hand of the One who controls the winds and the seas to carry us safely to shore.
In the midst of my struggle I forgot something important. I believed in my inability more than I believed in God’s ability. I’m not sure if my refusal-to-write storm lasted two weeks like the storm in Acts 27, but after I pouted a while, I knew it was time to cut loose the anchors and get back to writing.

In the midst of my struggle I forgot something important. I believed in my inability more than I believed in God’s ability. - Time to Cut Loose the Anchors by @SandyKQuandt #seriouslywrite #writetip

Sandy Kirby Quandt is a freelance writer and follower of Jesus with a passion for history and travel. Passions that often weave their way into her stories and articles. She writes numerous articles, devotions, and stories for adult and children publications both print and online including Christian Devotions and Inspire a Fire. Her devotions appear in two Worthy Publishing compilation books; So God Made a Dog and Let the Earth Rejoice. Sandy won several awards for writing including the 85th and 86th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition in the Young Adult category, First Place in the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference Children’s Literature 2016 Foundation Awards, First Place in the 2017 Foundation Awards in the Young Adult, Middle Grade, and Flash Fiction categories. Looking for words of encouragement or gluten-free recipes? Then check out her blog, Woven and Spun.
twitter.com/SandyKQuandt

Find You and Do It Well by Sally Shupe

Welcome! Today is my first time blogging as a regular contributor here on Seriously Write. How exciting is that?! Thank you so much for having me here. I enjoy writing and sharing words of encouragement. I’m so honored to get to do that right here! I look forward to seeing you every 1st Thursday.

I have been so excited to share with you today. My hope is that my journey will encourage you in your writing journey. Writing can be a lonely job. But when we gather together, there is camaraderie, encouragement, hope, lasting friendships.

My writing journey seems to have taken a back seat to other pressing life events. It didn’t happen overnight. It didn’t happen all at once. I didn’t even realize it had happened. One day, I just realized I hadn’t been writing. Have you been there? Floating along and then all of a sudden realize you’re not doing everything you need to be doing? That’s where I was. Work, home, church, family, projects, everything was taking over my life, and my writing was taking a back burner. So what did I do? I’m so glad you asked!

I discovered I had gotten discouraged. Not having an office to write in and a set place to write, not being able to block off 3 hours of time to write every day, not being able to consistently write 1,000 words a day had taken the joy out of my writing. But you know what? We have the best job ever. We can work wherever, whenever. All we need is our imagination and pen/paper or a computer.

If writing is your calling, you can do it! Pick up that pen and start writing. Turn on that computer and start typing. Make your dreams come true starting now. Everyone is different. Everyone has different writing styles. Some write every day; some write on weekends, or only a few minutes a day. Some already have a contract; others are writing in anticipation of getting a contract. Get your imagination flowing, keep pen and paper with you at all times. Stuck in line at the grocery store? Pull out that piece of paper or your phone and plot out the next scene in your story, nail down the descriptions, goals, motivation, and conflict for your characters. Watching a movie? What do you do during the commercials? (Unless you skip them!) Plot out the next chapter in your story. Work on your synopsis. Can’t figure out how to get your characters from point A to point B? Use the commercials to jot down scenarios, and by The End, you just might have figured it out.

There are as many different ways to write as there are snowflakes. (Do you love snow? I love snow!) Your office might be your dining room table, or the arm of your chair, or a nice shady spot on your back porch. You may be able to write 500 words a day or more, or you may be able to write a few words at a time. But those words add up over time. The key is consistency. If you write 20 words a day, that’s 20 words you didn’t have before. Each one’s habits are different, but they are your own. What works for you may not work for someone else. What someone else does, may not work for you. Find you and do it well! No one else can be you. No one else can write what you write. Someone needs to read your words, but that will never happen if you don’t write them. Your mission for today: Go write!

Sally Shupe lives in southwest Virginia with her husband, two grown kids-a daughter still at home and a son nearby, and a whole bunch of pets: five dogs, three cats, a rabbit, and birds at the birdfeeder (and the mandatory snowman when the snow cooperates). She writes contemporary Christian romance, with two completed manuscripts and three more in progress. They are part of a series located in small town Virginia.

When Sally’s not writing or working full-time, she is a freelance editor for several authors who write fiction and nonfiction; students working on dissertation papers; a copy editor for Desert Breeze; a content editor for Prism (became part of Pelican); performs beta reading for various authors; publishes book reviews on her blog and with Valley Business FRONT’s monthly magazine; is a member of ACFW and a PRO member of RWA; loves genealogy, running, and crocheting.

Sally uses her love of words to write about God’s amazing love.

Connect with Sally:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sallyshupewritings/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SallyShupe1
Blog: http://sallyshupe.blogspot.com/
Email: sallyshupe1@gmail.com
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/sallyshupe1/
Website: http://sallyshupeseditingservice.weebly.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sally-schreiner-shupe-8217a639?trk=hp-identity-name

Staying Motivated by Rachel J. Good

We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand — and melting like a snowflake. Let us use it before it is too late.”    ~Marie Beynon Ray  

As snow falls here in the Northeast, blanketing us with white so deep we have no choice but to stay inside, it’s a good time to ponder our goals. Back in January, when the year was new and shiny, many of us made resolutions. Often by now, we’re off track, and all those promises we made to ourselves seem even farther from reach because we’ve also lost our motivation. The passion that birthed those resolutions has long since died. And that makes it easy to forget our dreams and plans, to let the pressing details of everyday life keep us stuck. 

We have so many commitments, we have little time to squeeze in the things that are dear to our hearts. Perhaps an emotional or physical crisis is draining our time and energy. Once this is over, we tell ourselves we’ll make time for writing. But before that difficulty passes, another takes its place, and soon we’re spending all our time dealing with emergencies. We shelve our dreams, but it’s “only for now,” we promise ourselves. We’ll get back to it someday, but soon a few days stretches into weeks, months, or even years. 

So how do we stay motivated once reality has set in, and we’re not finding time for our writing or other important projects?

One of my favorite pieces of advice is to look back for motivation and forward for inspiration. Planning and dreaming can inspire us to move ahead, but looking back can be valuable to see how far we’ve come. I’ve found it’s often the perfect solution to getting unstuck.

The key to looking back is not to beat yourself up over uncompleted projects, but to remember your past successes. Even if it seems these have been few or nonexistent, reframe your past from a positive perspective.

For many years, my only progress consisted of stacks of rejection letters, half-finished manuscripts, and a brain full of ideas. Although I put in work, I didn’t feel a real sense of accomplishment. Now I wish I could go back and appreciate those achievements, because if it weren’t for those years of drudgery and disappointment, I wouldn’t be published today.

So wherever you are on your journey (whether in writing or other pursuits), honor the hard work you’ve put in — even if it didn’t bring the rewards you hoped. Find a way to keep track of what you’ve done and celebrate the small milestones along the way. Rejection letters indicate you’ve been submitting, partially finished manuscripts prove you’ve been writing, doodles in your sketchbook show you’ve been drawing. Yes, you may not have gotten as far as you’d hoped, but rather than looking at where you expected to be, rejoice in how far you’ve come. You’ve made progress, and that’s the most important thing.

Another way to look back is to ask yourself what you wish you’d accomplished at the end of your life. So many times, we forgo the important things for the petty. How valuable are the activities taking up your time each day? Would you rather spend your time sweeping dust bunnies in the guest bedroom or touching lives with an important message? Thinking in terms of an eternal perspective can also be motivating.

And as the quote (and the Bible) reminds us, we have no guarantee of tomorrow; the only time we have allotted is now. This point was driven home to me this week when a beloved writer I know lost her battle with cancer. Although those of us who knew her mourn her loss, we’re grateful for the books she’s left behind – books that still have the power to change lives for years or even generations to come. What about you? Are you waiting for someday? If God has given you a message to share, do it now. Don’t put it off until it’s too late.

 

Inspirational author Rachel J. Good writes life-changing, heart-tugging novels of faith, hope, and forgiveness. She is the author of several Amish series in print or forthcoming – Sisters & Friends series, Hearts of Amish Country series, and Love & Promises series – as well as the Amish Quilts Coloring Books. She also writes the contemporary inspirational series, Hope Chapel, and the first novella in that series, Angels Unaware, recently released. Her March release, Buried Secrets, is on blog tour with Celebrate Lit. You can connect with Rachel on Facebook and her website.

Links

www.racheljgood.com
https://www.facebook.com/racheljgoodnovels/
https://www.facebook.com/people/Rachel-J-Good/100009699285059
https://twitter.com/RachelJGood1
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14661177.Rachel_J_Good
https://www.pinterest.com/racheljgood1/