A Time to Write

The book of Ecclesiastes says that for everything, there is a season. Perhaps now is my season to begin writing original content at my blog. Why is this? Some good friends have complained that all I offer at my blog is recycled material from other blogs. Their claim is true—I freely admit it. I have no excuses, other than that I struggle to find time for writing just like thousands of other writers like me. When I'm not editing the writing of others (my day job), I'm battling for time to work on my next novel. Somewhere in there I'm supposed to market my next release and balance that with family time, church time, and the list goes on and on. Yada, yada. We've all heard these complaints before because everyone is busy.

Everyone. Without exception. (What keeps them busy is another story.)

Perhaps that's all they are—complaints. Perhaps it's time for me to test the complaints and see if there's any validity behind them. After all, I'm supposed to be a writer, right?

I freely admit that among writing types, fiction is at the top of my list. Nonfiction is . . . well, it's nonfiction. It's work. Fiction opens the door to creativity for me—it's fun—while nonfiction . . . well, the creative side there is not so quickly apparent. Perhaps I need to shatter my own bias and show that I can be creative and write nonfiction.

Now I'm rambling.

So let's test the complaints and try my hand at writing a weekly article and see where this writing goes. But write about what? Some authors use every blog post to promote their writing ad nauseam. Those who know me well know that that's not me. When I have publishing news to report, I'll report it, but I don't intend to do much more promotional writing beyond that. Those who are interested in my next book can go buy it; those who aren't . . . well, God bless 'em. No hard feelings.

So then what will I write about? Goodness, there are simply too many topics to choose from. So I'll start with what's on the tip of my tongue or—a better metaphor—on the tips of my fingers.

Life is full of stuff to write about, so I'll start there. I have no grand illusions of writing anything so profound that it'll knock you off your chair . . . or your couch . . . or . . . whatever . . . (And if I've got typos, well, such is life. I edit stuff for other people all day; I don't intend to sweat the small stuff on my own words. If there's a typo now and then, please forgive it.) But I do plan to write from the heart about things that are near and dear to me. Things that are significant—at least as I define the word. Keep an eye on this space as I begin writing weekly in 2012. It may be about writing. It may be about politics or Christian living or editing or music or . . . who knows? Keep an eye out.