Thursday, October 13, 2011

A Call to Arms!

 First I want to thank everyone who participated in the round robin story last Thursday.  It was so much fun, and I was impressed with everyone's additions.  I put them all in the post and added an ending.  You can read the finished story here.

The LDS community is coming out of the wood work and are ready to proclaim to the world..."I am a Mormon!"  To me, this media blitz is a call to arms for all Latter-Day Saints.  We are in a war with Satan and we must fight to win the souls of the world...including our own.  That being said, have you noticed the saturation of LDS people in the writing community in the past 5-10 years?  Why do you think so many of us have a sudden desire to write?  It's because the Lord is giving us the desire to arm ourselves with words as we fight the battle we all accepted in the pre-existanse.  This desire to write is the Lord's will.  It is a talent He has given us to use for the benefit of all people, including ourselves.  Some of us will never publish in a national market, some of us only desire to write for family or friends.  What we have to realize is that everything we write is of benefit to someone.  Sometimes, we may be the only person to benefit, but, oh how much sweeter it is to know that Heavenly Father gave us this strong desire to write, not for the masses, but for our own personal sake.  He cares about us so much individually, that sometimes our talents are for us.   Not that I'm saying they are only for us, but the growth we can obtain just by growing a talent is so much more than what one person will gain from reading it.
So writers, let us put on our heavenly perspective when we write.  Let's realize that the feelings of inferiority, or insignificance, or mediocrity are not from our Father in Heaven.  They are from His enemy who uses our own insecurities to destroy us from the inside out.  Because Satan knows what our Father in Heaven knows, that by small and simple things( like words) are great things brought to pass.  As writers we worry that our constant stream of ideas are annoying to others, or that our writing isn't good enough for contests, or magazines, or e-books because a big agent or big editor didn't tell us how wonderful we are.  I have a confession to make, I've almost quit writing on this blog more times than I can count.  It's usually due to my pride getting in the way because I didn't feel I was getting enough "atta girl" comments.  "Nobody cares if I write on the blog or not.  I can find someone better than me and people would be better off!"  Yes, those are usually my thoughts on the matter.  But the Spirit usually intercedes and conquers my pride by whispering of my worth, and telling me that is for my own growth that I write on here.  That I am important enough to take up a whole days worth of a blog post to increase my understanding.  I am worth the work that goes into my writing even if not a single, solitary soul ever reads it!   And I'm here to tell you that you are worth it too!  You are worth putting yourself out there even when you don't think your good enough.  You are worth the trouble it takes to write a blog post, or a contest entry, or a magazine article, or an agent query.  So what if you don't get any comments on your post, or win the contest, or get rejected by the magazine or the agent.  Remember the big picture.  No one is waiting at the pearly gates to say that you can't enter because you didn't get published or didn't win a contest.  Our heavenly rewards are based on perseverance, charity, growth, and reaching our potential.  So let go of your pride, sisters.  Recognize your feelings of insecurity as a very effective tool used by the adversary.  Put your writing and ideas out there and show Satan that you are no longer held back by him.  Show him that you are free from his bonds.  Fight him with all the words at your disposal.  Because every time you write despite your fears, you are winning the battle we have all been sent here to fight!

5 comments:

  1. Amen, sista! I am preparing to submit a manuscript that has been a mission from God for me from the beginning. I know this because 1. It's really good. And I'm not as good as that so I know He had a hand in it! and 2. Every time I want to stop something happens that spurs me on. 3. Every time I pray and ask God if this is even going to work He just floods me with more inspiration.

    So I'm in the home stretch and I shout a loud AAAAYMEN to ya! ;-) Here's to living up to the potential that our Father sees in us!!

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  2. Congratulations, Kasey! What a wonderful accomplishment. I wish the best of luck with your submission, be sure to keep us posted with your progress!

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  3. Thank you so much for posting this. I'm afraid to say that I let my feelings of mediocrity get the best of me more times then I'd like to admit, and knowing I'm not alone in this helps. This was just what I needed to hear today, and now I'm going to jump back into my MS to revise and edit, knowing that I can do it.

    Thanks again :)

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  4. I totally agree with you, Nikki. I feel like my writing has been inspired. I never ever would have considered writing LDS romance, but the chapters just came into my head and would not go away. Thanks for putting your thoughts and fear into words. It helps to know someone else feels the same way I do--inferiorities and all.

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  5. Cassie - Yes! Tackle that manuscript! And I will be following your lead and turning off the tv right now and getting to work on one of my projects as well!

    Rebecca - I like hearing I'm not alone too! It's good to know your not the only one who struggles to push through the negative feelings and get the words down on paper.

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