Living the Writing Dream—Even When You Don’t Know What It Is Anymore

by Emme Gannon @GannonEmme

I’ve learned to never lock myself into an idea. Complacency sets in which can show up like arthritis on a rainy day. 

My southern grandmother could predict when her joints would act up by observing nature. “The cows are layin’ down. It’s gonna’ rain today,” she’d say. Sure enough, those cows were spot on. 

We moderns don’t bother with that sort of thing. We’re too busy checking our cell phones or grinding away on our computers. Of course, we can ask Alexa and she’ll give us a detailed weather report and just about anything else we want to know. 

My car warns me when weather is bad or traffic is slow along my route which, incidentally, it knows on any given day. Reminds me of Hal in 2001 Space Odyssey, a film that gave me nightmares well into my twenties. 

Our computers do have limitations, though. They can’t tell us how to live our dream when we wonder if we still know what it is. We thought we knew, but then life interfered and challenged us at every turn. Until, at last, we agreed to the metamorphosis that God had been planning all along. That reminder—that turning back to the path He’d directed us to long ago.

God, who do you say that I am? That was the question I posed while at Blue Ridge Christian Writer’s Conference a few weeks ago. I needed a reminder. A fresh anointing. His answer came in a unique and individual way. Because that’s the kind of God we serve. Unlike the drone-like voice of Alexa, God speaks our name and leads in ways that are far from text-book ready. 

In my quest, God did notshow me a technicolor vision of tomorrow. Instead, He spoke in the quiet solitude of the mountains. He showed me to let go. To release the constraining fear that keeps one walking in circles on the same path. Frightening at first. But then freedom. And it is only when we give ourselves permission to be free to fail can we be free to create.

As writers, the ever present rejection and harsh critiques can often tear at our self-image and remove us from the path God has designed for us. However, when we take those comments to the Lord who called us to be what we are, they take on new meaning. 

We spend hours of solitary putting words and stories together. When our work is rejected, we hurt. God showed me the importance of asking Him what that rejection triggered in me. What emotions did it evoke? God is always eager to reveal that which we’ve been holding onto that needs His perspective. His healing. His peace. 

We tend to lock ourselves into what worked in the past, instead of always reaching for that to which the Holy Spirit breathes energy. God is very eager to climb into the skin of our life’s story and, with perfect execution, turn it into His story. The story He planned for us before we were created in our mother’s wombs. For the writer, that means our creativity explodes. 

My grandmother taught me that learning often comes from observing. My time in the mountains linked her lesson to the Lord who allows us to see His truth. Always through surrender. Surrender of ourselves, our writing, and, yes, even those dreaded rejections. He works all to reveal the image He has of us and the work He has called us to do.

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Emme Gannon is a wife, mother, and grandmother who loves to write stories that stir the heart. Her award-winning writing has appeared in Focus on the Family magazine, several anthologies, and numerous newsletters. She just completed her first novel.