My View of Life - Never Better!

Write, You'll Succeed
I truly believe that Heavenly Father wants us to write. Sure we're encouraged to keep journals. They're fantastic! I feel deep admiration and love for my grandfather because I read his journal. I want my kids and grandkids to know of me. I'm on my 14th. But, I think it goes much much deeper. Where would we be without the writings of prophets? We know from scripture that true and living doctrine would be lost, history, even our language would be compromised. As authors without them we'd miss out on inspiration, adventure, fantasy, instruction, education, and so on. Poets, composers and so many others offer enrichment to our lives as well.
Ten years ago, the night after my mother's funeral I awoke at 1:30 a.m. I was perspiring and shocked at the panorama that was coursing through my mind. I grabbed pen and paper and wrote until sunup. Now 10 years later the inspiration of that night is near its final copyedit.
Much has happened over the past decade. I wrote the novel from the outline I scribbled that night. It was very poor. My wife didn't like it at all. I re-wrote it. Again she didn't like it-all 100,000 words. She's read hundreds of novels so, though hurt, I trusted her. I hired an editor. She hammered it with numerous needs of correction. I did everything she suggested. Again my wife didn't like it.
I hired a different editor. She hammered it hard. Eight years had now past. I was beaten. I closed the manuscript with a vow not to open it again, in spite of its likely miraculous origin.
Days and weeks past. I was restless and empty. I slumped into deep introspection. I began reviewing my journey. I had felt the inspiration, and wrote; but I'd done much more than that. I'd read every book on writing that my editors instructed me to read. I'd read novels of the same genre always with an effort to compare our writing styles. And I'd asked for help. I had wearied our Father in Heaven with my prayers.
I observed that this was all good. I did feel close to the Lord. I'd studied many scene selections with him, felt his soothing strength bolster me until tears fell onto my keyboard. And I'd learned much. I no longer added an adverb to most every verb, I learned how to hook, create character arcs, and always always to show not tell. Could it be that I was not enduring to the end? Was I quitting just as the blessings were beginning to flow?
I sat down at my computer, and again read the instructions from my editor. I did everything she suggested, but this time something strange began to take place. It was like I discovered a whole new me that I didn't know existed. It was like Brad Pitt coming into his own method of fly fishing in "A River Ran Through It." I found, as Orson Scott Card counsels, that I could pursue a thousand different scenarios for each scene, and from them came new scenes. A whole new novel was formed along with identification and enlightenment into many new characters. It still had the same story line, but now it was alive. I wrote as fast as I could type for five months. At the end, I had my blood tested for a couple health problems that plague me. My kidneys were doing poorly. My wife, who is also a nurse, scolded me for writing day after day and not getting up to eat or drink.
I put the novel to the test with my beta readers. 100% of them could not put it down the last 150 pages, and they wouldn't change the rest either. But the big test--my wife. The last Beta reader. I held my breath for days until she finished. She came in to my computer room. I looked up. Oh my gosh, there was a tear in her eye. But was it a tear of frustration or--
Rhett, you nailed it. I teared up at the end. Inherent in marriage is divine strength, growth, and ultimate joy and rejoicing with each other and their posterity.
I jumped up and ran around the room for a while then finally melted into her arms. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Surely Heavenly Father appreciates our effort to write. What a perfect way to communicate, love, improve, and bless us children as we open ourselves up to him praying, pondering, struggling, and yearning for the proper words to be placed on the paper. I've never felt more kinder, loving, and thoughtful spirits around me as I did at Storymakers. I'm not going out on a limb when I say, we all undergo a similar experience with our Father in Heaven as we write.
Happy writing everyone! I dedicate this blog post to George Loch who inspired me to help one of us who is just starting the journey. Thank you George!