@RamonaRichards

Well, you’re here. The wasteland.

Wait, now. The Blue Ridge conference was AWESOME! Notes taken, with inspiration driving an unbelievable energy. You left in an unexpected euphoria of new friends, new direction, new ideas. You expanded your social media, sent the thank you notes, filed the business cards. You start to network . . . then the burst of “I’m gonna do this!” starts to wane.

Now you’re spending a little too much time on social media, searching, hoping to reclaim that dreaminess you came home with. It’s important to connect, yes, but this never matches the conference for spurring you on.

Instead, you find yourself in the wasteland. Just you and the computer and the blank screen.

Or if the screen isn’t blank, the words you just typed seem . . . lacking somehow. You check your notes, but that voice starts again in the back of your mind, that nagging little devil who whispers, “You are not good enough. You don’t know enough. Your ideas are lame. Why do you want do this anyway? Get on with your life.”

Oh, for the love of . . .

God. You’re doing this for the love of God. For the gifts He has showered on you: a gift of words, of ideas. A gift of desire to do more for Him, for His Kingdom. He has called you to write, to share what He has done for you, how He has lifted you and your loved ones up through the darkest time.

He has made you a writer. He has put in you that hole, that craving, that drive that only writing can fill. To take the words He’s made you love, the ideas that come unbidden to the creative mind He has bestowed on you.

I was never much of a fan of Kevin Bacon, not until lately. In a recent interview, he was asked if he had a reason for his longevity, for his 30+ years in show business. He chuckled, and said that the secret to longevity in any business is longevity itself . . . to hang in, persist, and never give up. Everybody fails. The secret is to do what you can to keep going.

He’s right. Like acting, writing is not nearly as easy as some people think. And continuing to write in the face of endless rejections and blank screens—not to mention the “back of the head” voices that seem to never let up—is not for the faint-hearted.

So when you’re tired and exasperated at looking down at the keyboard, look up instead. Because you’re doing this for the love of God.

Ramona Richards is the associate publisher for Iron Stream Media, the parent company of New Hope Publishers, Iron Stream Kidz, and Ascender Books. She has been an in-house editor for Abingdon Press, Thomas Nelson, Rutledge Hill Press, and Idealsmagazine, and has freelanced for a dozen other publishers. The author of twelve books and a frequent speaker for women’s and writers’ groups, she is the recipient of the 2019 Joanne Sloan National Award for the Encouragement of Writing. Her latest book, Murder in the Family,will be released in October.

Website: Ramonarichards.com

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