11/22/2006

Spec Fic With Gravy on the Side

Spec Fic With Gravy on the Side

Maybe it's the fact that it's the day before Thanksgiving.
Maybe it's the weather-- a blustery, wet Noreaster that makes one
curl up inside and think warm thoughts. Or maybe having my baby
Ember has just softened up me a little.

Whatever the reason, today my thoughts turn to a part of writing
that it's easy to forget amidst the hustle and bustle of creating
stories. I am absolutely, utterly grateful that God chose me to write.
When I was still being formed in the secret places of my mother's womb,
He decided to tweak things so that I would have this gift, and
stories have just seemed to be a natural part of my life since
childhood. He could have chosen someone else to glorify him through words;
certainly at times I think He could have found someone more worthy,
less insecure, more bold. But He gave it to me. And even at the most
frustrating moments, when my stories seem stale and my self-doubt is
ranting in the back of my mind, I know that writing is like breathing.
I can no more stop one than the other.

Writing has given me a portal into hundreds of worlds, introduced me
to characters through whose struggles I find hope for my own. Words
give me a way to put my passion onto paper, or to grapple with a fear,
or to take up arms against an evil or injustice. If I combine them
with music, I have a wonderful and powerful way to praise my God.
I love that He's put it in my heart to write speculative fiction and
explore the countless possibilities of the genre.

So, on the eve of turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie, I just want
to stand up and say thank you-- to God, for His unspeakable mercy
and grace, and also to my fellow wordsmiths, for joining together in faith
and community, helping one another use the gift God has placed in us.

Karen

6 comments:

Andrea Graham said...

Thank you for sharing, Karen, it's been a blessing. Reminds me some of my own feelings on the subject (only my insecurity often tries to hide behind brashness, I'm working on that)

Happy Thanksgiving! Let's hope my pies turn out (I get to bake!) and that I figure out how to bake a turkey (my first ever.)

cyn said...

Last year was also my first turkey year as well! It did turn out nicely--but only because of Mama--I phoned her at critical junctures all through the process and from 4000 km away, Mama did a splendous job!

Thanksgiving = thanking God for mothers.

--cyn

Andrea Graham said...

If I didn't know better, I'd think this wasn't my first turkey year. except a few pie mishaps, everything turned out great. I called my in-laws house a few times, admittedly.

Karen: thankfully that's not contagious (though part of me wishes it was) :)

I was so tired, after I had everything ready to go, I called my mother and thanked her for all the work she put into thanksgiving dinners over the years.

Frank Creed said...

Karen--
I can get so caught up in the frantic business, promoting and marketing of our lost genre and my own writing chores, that I forget what it's all about. Your post is one of those things that refocus me. Thanks for this surprise gift. You have no idea how well timed it came.
Faith,
f

Deborah Cullins Smith said...

Like Frank said, I think we get TOO caught up in the marketing side of the world, (at least I have found that true), and we forget WHY we do what we do. WE WRITE! And Praise God that He allows us to. Thanks for reminding us about the most important part of our gift -- the creative spark that keeps us at a keyboard, or for those of us 'oldtimers' -- a pen and paper! Your post was a blessing, Karen. Thanks! ~deb

Donna Sundblad said...

Great post Karen. Snaps us back to basics with a kind, gentle hand. It so easy to take what God has given us, use it, run with a measure of success and forget that he is the giver of the gift.

Donna