I don’t know how I got so busy. It began with getting ready for a weekend camping trip with friends–thus the photo above. We had a fabulous time kayaking and chatting and hanging out together for three days. When I arrived home, there was the necessity to unload the camper, the cleaning and putting to rights, and starting to prepare for my big fall RVing trip. And then there is the maintaining of the house, the truck, the daily life. Today, which really seemed to pick up tempo, I realized that for weeks I have been racing through my days from one must-do to another, and I have written very little for weeks.
As I read the above sentence, I smile. Thank the Lord (literally) that I have formed the deliberate practice of writing a blog post once a week, so here I am writing. As always, the writing leads me to see myself and my life more clearly.
“If I can write things out I can see them, and they are not trapped within my own subjectivity.” ~ Madeleine L’Engle
Now I must take myself in hand and choose to put writing first. I turn off the television, and even though I am far later than my usual writing hours, I come to the page. It is a start in picking up the frayed threads of my commitment and dedication to writing. I encourage myself with the idea of encouraging all of you out there to, as Steven Pressfield writes, “Put your ass where your heart wants to be.”
Why don’t I always put writing first? What would my life be like if I did?
While working hard on According to Carley Love, I promised myself that when I finished, I would take weeks for journalling and writing prayers. I’ve had a Christmas story playing at the edges of my mind. I have written none of it.
According to Carley Love was a bridge of sorts for me. The writing of Carley Love’s story put the writer and woman that I was behind me and moved me to a new place, with new stories. Maybe every novel does that. I don’t know, but I do know that I feel a sense of looking at a new life ahead. Something of an open door. I once heard a woman of my age say that she was looking at the last third of her life. Priorities shift. We come to know what holds meaning for us. But sometimes the new is hard to face, and it is much easier to get diverted into busyness.
Every day requires courage to step out and do what really matters to our hearts. This is being and doing what we are made to be and do on this earth. We don’t have to know exactly what that is or even what it looks like. Life has a lot of mystery. All we need do is listen to the still small voice and follow it. I need to remind myself of that, and maybe some of you need to hear it, too.
“It is an incredibly moving story … She begins to journal to find a way through the maze she’s found herself in. She writes her feelings about her situation and what caused it. But Carly Love doesn’t only journal about herself, but also about her family, her friends, and her coworkers. About the other “Love women”, her mother, her grandmother, and her great-grandmother, and the influence they had on her life. As she journals, she discovers a new Carly Love. She finds her own strengths. She finds confidence and courage. She finds herself. And she finds her way to a deeper relationship with God.” — Amazon Reviewer
Grace and peace,
Curtiss Ann Matlock 