By Penny Reeve

Dear Writer,

Have you met Discouragement yet?

I have. She hovers close by the door of my office. She twiddles her fingers by my lounge. She stares over my shoulder as I brush my teeth and whispers ‘Why bother?’ or ‘You’re not good enough’ or ‘Just give up, it’s not worth it.’

And sometimes I think she’s right.

I pull up a chair, pour us both a drink, and listen as Discouragement explains, in blunt, gritty detail all the reasons why this writing game hurts so much and why I should do exactly what she says and quit.

She seems to know what she’s talking about. She pulls out evidence to support her claim: books that haven’t sold well, editorial comments that stung, social media statistics and elevator pitches that landed like half baked pancakes on the conference room floor. She leans in closer, nodding as if she was my very best friend letting me in on her treasured secrets.

But Writer, here’s the thing: although Discouragement may swear on the Bible that her words are true, they aren’t the Word of Truth. Discouragement should never get the last word. Not now. Not ever.

We have to hold up our hand and interrupt her tirade, so that we can hear the still quiet voice of our Heavenly Father. Because he is also speaking to us. Not about what we can’t do, or what we’re not good enough at, or how badly we’ve failed. No, he simply asks us – Writers like you and I – to do three things: ‘to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’ (Micah 6:8).

What exactly does this mean? Well, humility is looking at ourselves in the mirror and acknowledging the real truth about where we are and who we are trying to be. It’s being honest about unrealistic expectations and developing skills. It’s about hearing Discouragement’s points but reminding her firmly that our Heavenly Father’s picture is a whole lot bigger. The here and now is only part of it, there will be more to learn, more to write, more to say.

Discouragement will also ignore the calls to justice and mercy also, and both are so important in a writer’s life. Learning to take fair consideration of feedback, holding criticism with care, being kind to fumbling attempts to try something new or write something brave, learning to edit and edit and edit again. We need to learn how to be fair and right and kind to ourselves, and other writers, all at the same time.

Writer, I wish I could say Discouragement is a guest you can avoid at all costs. I wish I could tell you to simply slam the door in her face or flick her off your shoulder into oblivion. But I can’t. Discouragement seems determined to ride this course of writing with us, for better or for worse.

So, here’s my advice. When she sits down for a chat, when she pulls up the footstool and leans back ready to wax lyrical about why you should give up, lean forwards.

Yes, that’s what I said. Lean forwards.

Look Discouragement in the eyes and say, ‘Yeah, I know all about that stuff, but I’m not giving up. What I’m doing here: with this blank page and that rejection letter, with these low sales and that finicky character, with this terrified commitment to attend a conference and that scary editorial critique, even with this 37^th draft… What I’m doing here is important!’

And I’ll bet Discouragement will open her mouth to speak, she’s got endless amounts to say. But she’s said enough for today. Because, Writer, the words you are writing, they are important. But so too is how you respond to Discouragement. In fact, my hunch is that how you deal with Discouragement will be some of the most important work you’ll ever do.

Self-pity and criticism, perfectionism, distraction, laziness, blame, shame, fear, avoidance, defensiveness, anger. These are all options Discouragement expects us to nurture. But Micah 6:8 reminds us that our Heavenly Father has different expectations. Kind ones, fair ones and ones that keep us walking – stumbling as it may be – with Christ (not our writing) as our centre goal.

Yours faithfully,

A Fellow Writer.

Penny Reeve (also writing as Penny Jaye and Ella Shine) is the award winning, Australian author of more than 25 books for children. ​She writes picture books, junior fiction, children’s Bible studies and young adult fiction. She will be teaching a continuing class on writing for children at this year’s Blue Ridge Christian Writers Conference. You can learn more about Penny at www.pennyreeve.com and www.pennyjaye.com