Thursday Review—Acceptable Words, Prayers for the Writer

by Lynn H Blackburn

Do you ever glare at the blank screen and wonder what to say?

Do you ever stare at pages filled with words you wrote and wonder how on earth you’ll ever know what to keep and what to delete?

Do you ever glance at the “Send” key and wonder if it’s time?

Writers across the centuries have struggled with these same questions.

Some of these writers, shockingly, wrote down their thoughts. Often in the forms of prayers.

Gary D. Schmidt and Elizabeth Stickney have compiled many of these prayers into a book—Acceptable Words ~ Prayers for the Writer and this volume would make a fabulous addition to any Christian artist’s bookshelf.

Acceptable Words isn’t the kind of book you’d necessarily read straight through, although you could.

It’s divided into eight sections: The Writer Encounters the World, The Writer Studies the World, The Writer Begins, The Writer’s Vision Expands, The Writer Attends to the Word, The Writer Finds Joy in the Work, The Writer Petitions, and The Writer Offers the Work to God.

Each section has a brief introduction from the editors, and the introductions themselves are worthwhile reading.

What follows are prayers and poems—some thousands of years old, some much more recent—all echoing the cry of one of the most famous Biblical artists, The Psalmist ~“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.”

Whether it’s a pesky plotline, a finicky article, a looming deadline, or a frustrating edit, there are words of comfort and petition in these pages that may be just the words you need to keep you at the keyboard.

To keep you searching for the most acceptable words.

Lynn Huggins Blackburn has been telling herself stories since she was five and finally started writing them down. She blogs about faith, family, and her writing journey on her blog Out of the Boat. Lynn is a member of the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild and the Word Weavers, Greenville. She lives in South Carolina where she hangs out with three lively children, one fabulous man, and a cast of imaginary characters who find their way onto the pages of her still unpublished novels. She drinks a lot of coffee.