Soul Care for Writers by Edie Melson

Edie Melson

Oh, friends, we're in for a treat today! Raise your hand if you've ever been burned out in your pursuit of your calling. Yeah, I see those hands in the back. (waving at you with my own raised hand) This fall, I learned about a book written by today's guest that has helped me find rest in the middle of the mayhem. Perhaps Edie Melson's advice will help you as well. Read on! ~ Annette

Soul Care for Writers

By Edie Melson

Those who write have opened themselves to specific stressors. We pull from what’s inside us to create a gift of words. Our specific goals and dreams are as varied at the words we use. But ultimately I believe we each fight this battle to bring forth words to make the world a better place. We are hope givers, joy bringers, and light shiners.

To do this though, we must have something to pull from. Writing is an exhausting endeavor and we cannot do it effectively when the well is dry. So we must constantly return to the One who understands us—and our craft—best.

God is the ultimate author, and it is His inheritance that we showcase when we put pen to paper. God planted a seed in each of us that bears the fruit of words. But this seed must be nurtured—shaded in the healing covering of His presence and watered by His spirit and His word.

It’s not always possible to stop in the middle of chaos and retreat to a place of peace. But we know from Jesus’ example that He often walked into chaos and brought peace. We carry His strength with us, so in the midst of deadlines, family struggles, even writer’s block we have that same inner core of peace inside of us. We just need to bring it to the forefront.

Tips for Soul Care When Chaos Threatens 

1.      Stop and Pray. I always pray before I begin writing—whether it’s an email, social media update, blog post or my current work in progress. In the spirit of transparency, you need to know that it took me way too long to develop this habit, but it makes all the difference. 

2.      Take a creative break. I know, deadlines are looming and it doesn’t feel like you’ve got thirty seconds to spare. But taking five minutes to reignite that creative flame may save you hours of work.

•  Free write using a writing prompt
• Download a coloring page and spend five minutes playing 
•  Write out a Bible verse on a piece of paper. Doodle around it and add color, underline words that speak to you.

3.      Take a walk. Not only will it get your blood pumping, it will get your creative blood pumping. When you return from your walk, take an extra couple of minutes and write down what you noticed on your walk. 

4.      Turn up the music. When I need creative inspiration, music is one way I get that. I may turn up praise music and sing along, or movie themes and do a little (very private) dancing. 

5.      Pull out your camera. I’m also a photographer and something magical happens when I take time to view life through the lens of my camera. It helps me remember to filter out and focus in on what’s important. It doesn’t matter if you have a big professional camera or are using your cell phone. The effect is the same. 

6.      Write in a different place. Go to a different spot in your house. Visit the library (if you like quiet) or a coffee shop.

There are many things that deplete our creative energy, both outward and inward. We must be responsible to take time to renew our reserves and reconnect with the One who called us to this endeavor. When I take time for soul care, I reconnect with God. It’s during these times of closeness, His Spirit floods mine with truth. It’s the truth of who I am and more importantly—Whose I am—that brings me relief.

Now it’s your turn. How do you nurture your writing soul? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

Blessings,

Edie

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Soul Care When You're Weary by Edie Melson

Soul Care When You're Weary

Our lives are busier each day, and the margin we have available for recovery and peace is shrinking. Edie Melson helps you find Soul Care solutions using devotions and prayers and opportunities for creative expression. She has learned that sensory involvement deepens our relationship with the Father and gives rest to our weary souls. She will teach you to tap into your creativity. Reconnect with God using your tactile creativity. Warning! This book may become dog-eared and stained. Draw in it. Experiment with your creative passions. Learn the healing power of play. Allow God’s power to flow through creativity. Soul Care When You’re Weary will become your heart treasure.

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Edie Melson is a woman of faith with ink-stained fingers observing life through the lens of her camera. As an author, blogger, and speaker she’s encouraged and challenged audiences across the country and around the world. No matter whether she’s talking to writers, fellow creatives, or readers, her first advice is always “Find your voice, live your story.” Her latest book, Soul Care When You’re Weary is available online and in bookstores. Soul Care for Writers will debut in May 2019.

Her blog for writers, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month and has been named to the Writer’s Digest Top 101 Websites for Writers. She’s the Director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, Mountainside Marketing Conference, and Soul Care Creative Conference. She’s on the board of directors for the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association and the Social Media Director for Southern Writers Magazine. She’s also a regular columnist for Just18Summers.com and PuttingOnTheNew.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook.

Moving Forward on a Retreat by Zoe M. McCarthy

Zoe M. McCarthy

Back in March, Gabrielle Meyer posted “The Importance of a Writing Retreat” on Seriously Write. It spoke to me because my husband and I had started to look for a cabin getaway. Besides a space for personal and family renewal, my dream was to find a place where I could invite church and writer friends for retreats.

After a seven-month search, we have a cabin on a lake. It’s big enough that after we get it in shape, I can host small retreats.

Now, as we work to freshen up the cabin and clear the woods down to the lake to open a view, I already feel revitalized. As I stroke on paint in the master bath, I forget about deadlines. I enjoy how the green wall color brings out the log walls and redwood pine on the ceiling and wainscoting. While I update the globes on the fan lights throughout the cabin, blog posts that need to be written never enter my mind. And snipping tree branches leaves no room for thinking about edits.

I pat myself on the back for the exercise I accomplish in climbing ladders, stacking cut branches, and walking through Lowes in search of pine planks, paint, and towel bars. The exercise is so good for me compared to sitting in front of a laptop for hours.

And then, I have fellowship with my husband. At home, he’s my marketing manager, CFO, and computer tech, but at the cabin it’s different. We work side by side in the basement workshop. He cuts pine planks, and I stain them. We shop for bedcovers, lamps, and stoneware dishes to “bearify” the cabin décor, laughing, discussing, and dreaming.

Don’t get me wrong. I love our home on a hill surrounded by mountains and overlooking a valley sporting sheep, cows, and corn and Christmas tree fields. And I love creating love stories. But sometimes a writer, or any worker, needs a retreat with husbands, family, and friends. I hope someday to provide that for a few.

Are we doing the right thing?

Yesterday, I drove forty minutes to have blood drawn for my annual checkup next week. I was sad that too many writing obligations might prevent us from making the ninety-minute drive to the cabin this week. As the lab technician prepared to insert the needle, I turned my head to look away. On the wall was this painting. I didn’t feel the needle.

A Cabin in the Mountains

Retreats don’t have to be a cabin. What are places you retreat to?

Click to Tweet: Have you ever wanted to go on a writing retreat? @ZoeMMcCarthy talks about the benefits of a "cabin in the woods" for #writers on #SeriouslyWrite. https://bit.ly/2EpAxO6

About the Author

A full-time writer and speaker, Zoe M. McCarthy, author of The Putting Green Whisperer, The Invisible Woman in a Red Dress, Gift of the Magpie, and Calculated Risk, writes contemporary Christian romances involving tenderness and humor. Believing opposites distract, Zoe creates heroes and heroines who learn to embrace their differences. When she’s not writing, Zoe enjoys her five grandchildren, teaching Bible studies, leading workshops on writing, knitting and crocheting shawls for a prayer shawl ministry, and canoeing. She lives with her husband in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Zoe blogs regularly at www.zoemmccarthy.com.


The Putting Green Whisperer

The Putting Green Whisperer
by Zoe M. McCarthy

Suddenly unemployed, Allie Masterson returns home to Cary, North Carolina where she caddies for the father on the PGA Seniors Tour. There, she encounters a man who possesses an alluring gift of reading the contours of the green. Fascinated with his uncanny ability, Allie is excited to meet the Green Whisperer—until she discovers that the easygoing caddy is actually Shoo Leonard, the boy who teased her relentlessly when they were kids. Despite Allie's reservations, when Shoo is faced with having to overcome a hand injury, she agrees to use her sports science degree to become his trainer...and then she falls for him.



Shoo Leonard is grateful to Allie for her singular determination to get him ready for the PGA tour, but he isn't ready for anything more. Still raw from a broken engagement and focused on his career, he's content to be her fist-bumping buddy...but then he falls for her.



What seems like a happily-ever-after on the horizon takes a turn when Allie decides she's become a distraction to Shoo's career. Is it time for her to step away or can The Putting Green Whisperer find the right words to make her stay?

Taking Chances by Mary Manners

 

 As children, everything around us is new and we are eager to dream big, make wishes, and take chances. The night sky is alit with twinkling opportunities to boldly cast our desires to the heavens as we wish upon stars. We believe those wishes...every last dream...will come true.

 

As time passes and we journey into adulthood, that unbridled eagerness more often than not gives way to caution. Our untarnished wonder at all the opportunities life has to offer begins to fade. We get caught up in the everyday chores and responsibilities of adulthood, and surrender to the familiarity of a daily routine. Children need to be fed, laundry sits in unsorted heaps along the floor, and the lawn is so tall it threatens to overtake the house.

 

Energy is zapped; the soul cries out and creativity weeps. Who has time for wishes, dreams and taking chances?

 



 

Life goes on, and days roll into weeks and months, and sometimes even years. If and when the opportunity arises for an afternoon outside of our routine, the body is so drained than an inner battle ensues...how should that time be spent?

 

Spend it by taking a trip back to the carefree days of childhood. Take a long walk to brush away the cobwebs from your mind and to let in the light. Savor the little things...the sweet scent of lilac, wispy cloud pictures along a cerulean sky, and the kiss of a warm breeze on your cheek.  Allow your mind to wander and dream as if you were a child again. Make a wish or two, and believe they will come true.

 

Then, act on those wishes and make them come true. Feel creativity return like a wash of sunlight over vast, green fields just ready for sowing. Plant seeds and watch them bloom into beautiful flowers. Then pluck a fragrant bloom or two--or an entire bouquet--and carry the blossoms home to remind you to keep a bit of childlike zest alive inside...to wish, to dream, and to never stop taking chances. 



 

 

~~~~~

 



 

Whispers at Willow Lake

 

With a father known as the town drunk and a mother who fled when he was only six, Ryder learned early on that the world can be a cold, unforgiving place. Only two people in his life have ever understood him:  "Mama" Stallings and sweet Ali Maclaren. But after a tragic accident, guilt chases Ryder from the town that's labeled him trouble, and from Ali.

 

Seven years later Ryder returns after Mama Stallings's death and finds that Ali is considering marriage to a man with a mean streak he masterfully hides from all but Ryder, a man who'll do whatever's necessary to remove Ryder from Willow Lake, and Ali's life, forever.

 

Can Ali find a way to forgive Ryder and can Ryder forgive himself before another tragedy occurs?



 

~~~~~

Mary Manners is an award-winning romance author who lives at the beautiful shores of Jax Beach with her husband, Tim. She loves swimming, running, flavored coffee and ocean-blue sunsets.

 

Mary believes everyone has a story to tell, and she loves to share hers. She writes inspirational romances of all lengths, from short stories to novels—something for everyone.

 

Learn more about Mary Manners at her website: www.MaryMannersRomance.com



The Stories In Their Faces by Marianne Evans

Marianne Evans

The Easter season has inspired me to consider the way my writing has evolved over the years. At the intersection of the pew and the main aisle of my church, I found a purpose. I found the means by which to fulfill a call on my heart that existed long before I was fully able to acknowledge it, or put God’s plan into motion.

Ever since middle school I considered myself a writer. I’ve always gravitated toward words, scenes and images that would bring emotions to life. Furthermore, I fell in love with the idea of…love.

My first publications were secular. I wrote for Kensington Publishing; after that I was contracted by The Wild Rose Press for a book titled With This Kiss. When I worked my way through edits on that story, something struck me, something  some might refer to as a ‘game changer.’

The end of that secular romance was decidedly Christian, and left me thinking about the fact that, for the longest time, I had wanted to write Christian fiction and romance, but didn’t feel worthy, or like I had a suitable story to tell.

God made use of that yearning. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, He was leading me straight to where I am now. The craving to write never left me, even through the fits and starts of contracts/no contracts – raising kids/maintaining a corporate job to help raise and college-fund said kids…

I went to church one fateful Good Friday—a service at which I’m always emotional and overwhelmed by Christ’s love and sacrifice—and noticed so many different things. Ushers readily helping the disabled, people gathered to honor the season, our friends and family giving us hugs, kisses and well-wishes as we served at Mass and joined our long-time worship community at the altar of God’s greatest gift.

During communion I found myself drawn once more to the people who filed forward. Most of them were strangers to me. That didn’t matter. I saw their faces. I saw individuals. I saw…stories. I saw them the way I hope and pray Jesus sees me while I live and love, struggle and savor, succeed and fail. I thought of them in a context of pure, unencumbered love, a people full of God’s hope and promise.

What greater gift could I have ever been given as a writer? From that moment on, I stormed the gates with my pen and my heart, and the gift of words He gave me from my youth. I determined from that point on to craft stories that I pray will do Him some form of humble praise and homage. As this season of rebirth and warm, sunny promise reminds me, this life, this journey is all about Him. It’s all about God’s kingdom being revealed and shared.

Where are you seeking renewal? Whatever your hope, always remember: You are cherished…you are loved. Alleluia!

Click to Tweet!

At theintersection of the pew and the main aisle of my church, I found a purpose.

Alwaysremember: You are cherished…you are loved.

Seekingrenewal? Find it in the faces, and stories, of the people around you. 

~~~~~

Marianne’s latest release, Date Night, is part of the new Pure Amore imprint at Pelican Book Group! Pure Amore is a ‘book of the month’ subscription service featuring Christian romances centered on the concept of pre-marital purity and abstinence that doesn’t surrender one moment of the thrill to be found when two people fall in love!

Check out Date Night and the other wonderful Pre Amore titles at:

http://pure.pelicanbookgroup.com/

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Marianne Evans is a multi-award-winning author of Christian romance and fiction with over twenty titles to her credit. Her hope is to spread the faith-affirming message of God’s love through the stories He prompts her to create.

Readers laud her work as: ‘Riveting.’ ‘Realistic and true to heart.’ ‘Compelling.’ Devotion, earned the prestigious Bookseller’s Best Award from Greater Detroit RWA as well the Heart of Excellence Award from Ancient City Romance Authors. She also earned wins for Best Romance from the Christian Small Publisher's Association and the Selah award for Best Novella.

Happily married and the mother of two, Marianne is a lifelong resident of Michigan who is active in a number of a number of Romance Writers of America chapters, most notably the Greater Detroit Chapter where she served two terms as President.

Connect with Marianne: Website ~ Blog ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Amazon ~ Pinterest