Writing On The Fine Line

Still Waiting?

I’ve been in waiting mode for years with this novel I’m writing. Waiting for me to commit the time to it (note I didn’t say find the time). Waiting for inspiration to strike. Waiting for God to extend His finger from the sky and emblazon my manuscript with the perfect words.

Waiting. Yes, for these things, but mostly for the courage to continue. Can anyone relate?

So, anyway, I’m reading in one of my favorite blogs the other day (Novel Rocket: http://www.novelrocket.com) and I find this post by Anita Mellott from March of 2010 on waiting. (Feel free to enjoy it.)

Anita’s waiting was of a different texture than mine, but this line leapt out at me: “I had a choice–to allow the tentacles of doubt and anxiety to tighten their stranglehold on me or to ‘travel steadily along his path’ (Psalm 37:34; NLT).”

I, too, have a choice–and it’s the same one.

Then, in my mind, a song started playing (I’m a regular jukebox, most days). John Waller’s “While I’m Waiting” from the movie Fireproof. Again, totally out of context from my brand of waiting, but here’s the line that moved me:

And I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience

It’s that “bold and confident” part I have trouble with.

How about you? Have you been waiting? Letting fear of (fill in the blank) rob you of your writing?

I think it’s time to take a step in obedience.

What are you waiting on? Can you find a way to move forward, even while you wait?

On Thursday, something new for Writing On The Fine Line–our first book review! Come back then and see what I thought of Peter Leavell’s Gideon’s Call. Did this historical win me over?

Michael Ehret, for Writing on the Fine Line

Michael Ehret, WritingOnTheFineLine
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9 responses to “Still Waiting?”

  1. Jim Hamlett (@jimhamlett) Avatar
    Jim Hamlett (@jimhamlett)

    “Bold and confident.” You’re not the only one troubled by a lack of them. With me, they ebb and flow like the tide, though not as predictable. The tide is out now–but when I fall on my knees, it flows again.

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    1. writingonthefineline Avatar
      writingonthefineline

      You and your honest struggles inspire me. I’m so glad to know you.

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  2. Heather Day Gilbert Avatar
    Heather Day Gilbert

    YES. I’ve been trapped in a waiting period (book out on submission), not knowing if I need to write the NEXT in the series or write something else (in the event they reject the time period–I’m out of the box in 1000 AD). Thank the Lord for my writing friends, who advised me to keep moving ahead (and probably wisely recognizing I don’t do very well sitting still, with no goal in sight).

    SO I’m plowing into another book–different genre and time period. At the very least, I’m hoping to have two proposals sitting on editors’ hard drives instead of ONE. I just think you can’t keep a good (or possibly deluded) writer down.

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    1. writingonthefineline Avatar
      writingonthefineline

      Heather, Good for you in taking the bull by the horn and plowing forward. You are so right that good friends with good advice can be key.

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  3. anemulligan Avatar
    anemulligan

    In one sense waiting never gets us anywhere – we have to act. Write. Grow in the craft. Write some more. Submit.

    Then … we do have to wait … for God to say NOW. 🙂

    But until you’ve finished that first novel, you can’t finish a second or third … so get writing!

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    1. writingonthefineline Avatar
      writingonthefineline

      Queen Ane always has her ruler with her … and we do need that encouragement as well. Perseverance pays, eh Ane? She recently had her first two books contracted!

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    2. Sharyn Kopf Avatar
      Sharyn Kopf

      Ane, this is what I remind myself every day!

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  4. Sharyn Kopf Avatar
    Sharyn Kopf

    Thanks for this reminder, Mike. Like many I hate waiting, yet it feels like that’s all I do, especially recently. But so often I’m waiting for me to move & get something done & stop giving fear a foothold. When I realize I’m letting fear hold me back I remember something from “Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade.” Near the end of the film, the bad guy, Donovan, shoots Indy’s dad as an incentive to find the Holy Grail. If Indy wants to save Henry, he has to risk his life by facing three deadly booby traps. In other words, he has to face his fears.

    He hesitates & Donovan says, “It’s time for you to decide what you believe.” Every time fear comes at me, I have to decide what I believe: Does God love me & want the best for me? Or will I continue to let doubt & insecurity keep me from following His call on my life?

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    1. writingonthefineline Avatar
      writingonthefineline

      Love that movie! And that is a great scene. “It’s time for you to decide what you believe.”

      It’s a question many have not settled definitively–and it’s a great central question to hang a story on!

      Thanks Sharyn!

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