The Ark on our Shoulders by Laurel Thomas

Every writing project is a journey. At the end, we arrive at a destination that depends on every bit of our hard work. There were obstacles we had to leap over and lots of fine-tuning to do.  Our laptops flamed with the rush of inspiration one moment and grew stone cold at the next as we wondered what in the heck we were thinking.

Angst. It gets old. So, we press on anyway. We keep writing, keep working until the final product shines. Or at least we know it’s the best we can do. Even then we join a critique group, hire an editor and get other trained eyes on it, just to be sure.

In my head I knew the Lord was in the process. But one morning I saw proof of it in an obscure passage in I Kings 8. 

Here’s the back story. Construction of Solomon’s temple was complete - down to the tiniest facet of magnificence and order. 

It was time for the Ark of His Presence to arrive. Priests carried it with wooden poles on their shoulders to the inner sanctuary. Everything in that room had been prepared to receive the presence of God. Golden cherubim, crafted especially for the Ark, spread their wings over it. The walls themselves were overlaid with gold and shone with a luminescence. 

It was all dazzling. Except for those wooden poles the priests had used. They stayed in the middle of all that splendor, sticking out from under the Ark. (I Kings 8:8)

Wooden poles sticking out? In a place so glorious and intricate in detail that it’d taken thousands of workmen seven years to complete? 

Surely, they could’ve gotten rid of them. After all, the poles weren’t needed anymore. The Ark was in the temple to stay. No more mobile-home tabernacle to carry it everywhere God’s people went. 

Why were the poles still there?

Maybe to remind us that His presence was once carried on the shoulders of people. Those wooden poles weren’t fancy, but they were proof that God chose people to carry Him to a specific destination.  

Maybe you just submitted an article, wrapped up the resolution of your novel or finished a memoir. There was a journey to get there. One that you carried on your shoulders throughout the process. 

It’s true that the Lord was there every step of the way. But our work mattered. Our efforts carried an idea, a story, a poem to completion.  

Carrying that Ark into the temple took work. Teaming up with God takes work. But we can remember those wooden poles. Like them, we might end up in the middle of something beautiful!

A former high school English teacher, Laurel Thomas has written for magazines such as Guideposts, Mysterious Ways and others. In addition to her foray into fiction with her first novel, Laurel has ghosted books and edited others. As general administrator of Write Well, Sell Well OKC, she helps facilitate an annual conference and other opportunities to equip writers.   Laurel holds degrees in English and Counseling. She is a chaplain for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations, as well as being a lay pastor at Church on the Rock, Oklahoma City, OK.  Check out her blog at freefreshbread@wordpress.com and her website at www.laurelannthomas.org. 

A Villain's Bio by Laurel Thomas

Big and hairy, green teeth dripping with goo. You get the idea. It’s a villain. 

 

No matter what he, she or it looks like, a bad guy’s primary goal is to shut down the good guy. The protagonist needs to make forward motion and for whatever reason, the villain disagrees.

 

In good fiction, the bad guy isn’t obvious or at least has some believable reason for a twisted point of view. People are complicated and it’s no different for an effective antagonist.

 

My laptop is open without interruption – a rare moment. From my perch at the kitchen counter, I notice little piles here and there, bills waiting to be paid and laundry to done. 

 

But I need to write. 

 

Today, I plow through the angst of choosing a career with no concrete list of orders each morning (unless I make one) or time-clock (unless my alarm counts), and where success eludes me if I don’t move myself forward.  

 

A blank screen is intimidating, of course. But something more sinister lurks. As diabolical as a genetically-designed Godzilla in Jurassic World, it’s tailor-made to shut me down. It comes to devour my journey. This villain has studied me, knows my quirks, failures and mistakes. 

 

But unlike some monster creeping in the shadows, this villain is me. At least until I decide to resign that role. 

 

My writing is a journey. It unfolds as I move forward. It evolves through surprises, plot twists and lots of conflict. It won’t end until I decide to stop. 

 

Like the protagonist in my favorite novel, I may be unaware of how formidable that bad guy can be. And what the stakes are if I give in and quit. 

 

Villain-talk goes something like this: 

 

My last query got rejected fifteen times. It must be a sign. Wrong career.

 

I’m staring at a blank screen. It’s a sign. I have no more fresh ideas.

 

I’ve written myself into a corner as a fiction writer. It’s a sign. Toss it out the manuscript. 

 

There are big structure problems in my novel. It’s a sign. The whole story is flawed.

 

Another day without writing? No big deal.

 

A week without writing? Better quit. Too hard to take it up now.

 

My writer friends are multi-published. Where’s my success?

 

(Remember that adding It’s a sign gathers a weight of the ages on already tired shoulders.)

 

The surest way to foil a crafty bad guy is to understand his tactics, to discern his mode of operandum. Does he gather other bad guys to help? Does he undermine confidence, slander reputation or isolate with shame? What tactics do I use against myself on a bad day?

 

Opposition doesn’t have to work against me. It can stir me to persevere, to hone my craft by learning and investing more into my journey. It can make me shine. 

 

Pressure can uncover a well in me that isn’t dry after all. Or prove that I’ve learned good instincts after plowing through all those conferences, critiques and evaluations. 

 

The crux of a great story always has a villain. It just shouldn’t be me. Or you. Because without us, our stories go nowhere.  

 

Resolve to be your own best champion. You’ve got a great story. Keep writing it! 

A former high school English teacher, Laurel Thomas has written for magazines such as Guideposts, Mysterious Ways and others. In addition to her foray into fiction with her first novel, Laurel has ghosted books and edited others. As general administrator of Write Well, Sell Well OKC, she helps facilitate an annual conference and other opportunities to equip writers.  

 

Laurel holds degrees in English and Counseling. She is a chaplain for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations, as well as being a lay pastor at Church on the Rock, Oklahoma City, OK. 

 

Check out her blog at freefreshbread@wordpress.com and her website at www.laurelthomas.org.