by Sandy Kirby Quandt @SandyKQuandt

For several months at the end of last year, I went to physical therapy three times a week. While I exercised, several things struck me as similarities between physical therapy and writing.

I didn’t know what brought the others to therapy, but I knew what brought me. 

I don’t know why you put your thoughts down on paper. Maybe it is the same reason I write. Whether our reasons are the same or not, doesn’t make one nobler than the other. 

Each of us in PT had our own individual needs and plans. Our injuries were different. Our rates of recovery were different. Our willingness to push past pain and do the hard stuff was different.

As writers, each of us has our own individual needs. We have an individual God-given plan for how to meet them. Our genre and writing style are not the same. Our rates of reaching our goal are not the same. Our willingness to push past the pain of rejections, low sales, harsh critiques or reviews, and do the hard stuff is probably different as well. 

In PT I had no way of knowing how hard the others in worked, nor did I know what the effort costs them. All I knew was how hard I worked and what the effort cost me. 

I don’t know how hard you work at your craft and what the effort costs you. But I do know how hard I work and what the effort costs me. 

Maybe something that was easy for me at PT was difficult for others and vice versa. Perhaps I easily handled weights they struggled with. Or maybe they handled with ease the increased repetitions I sometimes found exhausting. 

Maybe an element of writing you struggle to master is not a problem for me. Maybe you can easily stay in deep point of view while I find it hard not to head-hop all over the place. Sigh. 

I don’t know what your goals are or where they will take you. Perhaps your goal is to write with God and your words are meant for his eyes only. Maybe you intend to share your words with family or friends. Your ultimate goal might be to publish your work for all the world to see.

No, I don’t know your goals. What I do know is this. We each come to writing for individual reasons. God’s plan for our writing is not cookie-cutter. How boring would that be? We have different goals, purposes, strengths, weaknesses, and abilities. Whatever we do with those things is between us and God.

What is your ultimate goal for your writing?

I wish you well.

Sandy

Sandy Kirby Quandt is a former elementary school educator and full-time writer with a passion for God, history, and travel; passions that often weave their way into her stories and articles. She has written numerous articles, devotions, and stories for adult and children publications. Her devotions appear in two Worthy Publishing compilation books; So God Made a Dog, and Let the Earth Rejoice. She has won several awards for writing including the 85th and 86th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition in the Young Adult category, First Place in the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference Children’s Literature 2016 Foundation Awards, First Place in the 2017 Foundation Awards in the Young Adult, Middle Grade, and Flash Fiction categories. Looking for words of encouragement or gluten-free recipes? Then check out Sandy’s blog, Woven and Spun. When The Way Is Steep