When the grandchildren come over, whether locally or from afar, I’m always curious about what they will choose to play with during the visit. What will they gravitate towards? What gears are turning in their brains that light up ideas that lead to the choice of the play they enter? What catches their attention becomes the place where they expend energy.
The local grandchildren often continue a project they began when they visited us last time. They pull out bins of Lego blocks, creating piles of possibilities for play. I listen to imagined conversations between castles, gardens, and outer space characters. Giggles and grand ideas surge.
Their energy poured into wooden trains or the kid-size kitchen a few years ago. For hours, they’d craft train tracks and design villages for passenger stops in the story world sprawling over the den floor. Many days, I sat with my knees almost at my chin in the tiny white chair by the play kitchen. The grandkid in the chef hat offered a menu, listed the day’s imaginative specials, and I would select delicacies to try. The young chef-of-the-moment would rustle up chocolate tacos, tuna pancakes, or some other weird and wild concoction, served with a hearty side of imagination.
Busy hands pull out paint, markers, and crayons when rainy afternoons preclude outdoor activities. A feast of colorful wonders sets a banquet at the kitchen table as thunder rumbles overhead. On sunny days, having retrieved Frisbees and brightly colored balls from the shed, busy feet rumble around the backyard, kicking, bouncing, or tossing balls and flying disks to one another. Under the shade of the crepe myrtle tree, sipping afternoon’s nectar, they point out molting cardinals at the birdbath and listen for the tiny chirp of the zoom-along hummingbirds who are loading up for their long haul south when the weather shifts seasons.
On a whim, we might head to the beach. I stuff items in beach bags, grab mats, towels, and chairs to sit on, take along sunscreen, sand toys, snacks, and a way to create shade, a beach tent or umbrella, or just a floppy hat. One grandchild builds an elaborate sandcastle at the shore, while others collect shells, jump waves, or fly kites.
What catches our attention as creatives also becomes places where we expend energy.
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- How do you choose what to create?
- Are you more inclined to bake, play the piano, or use the hammer and saw to craft something in the garage on a rainy day?
- What leads you to your next project as a writer or a creative?
Though we may not notice or name it, discernment plays a role in the back of our minds and hearts as we decide, right?
As a Book Coach, my first conversations with writers reveal the quandary most creatives experience. They ponder, “Which project should I devote myself to next?” Usually, they ask because their brains spin with intriguing ideas or are stumped by frazzling fears. Whether overwhelmed with too many thoughts or a supposed insufficiency of ideas, creatives freeze, unable to imagine any way forward. The conversation at this point moves to questions that lead towards discernment and decisions.
Step One: Step into Silence and Listen to God’s invitations
We start by being in God’s presence, sitting in silence, letting His voice speak over the voices churning within as we seek next steps. The good gifts given by His good hands hold potential for the project ahead. This practice of stepping into silence, which I also engage in during spiritual direction, grounds the churning to a halt. Silence and seeking God’s guidance offer an oasis in the desert dryness that comes in times of decision-making.
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- What’s the invitation God extends?
- What memories and imaginings arise?
- What brings curiosity to the surface?
Step Two: What’s Inhabiting Your Brain?
When we arrive at the beach with the grandchildren, they empty the beach bag to see what’s stored inside it. What is there to do for the time unfolding ahead? They turn over each item, inquisitive about how it could be used for a day at the beach. When we listen to God’s invitation and receive a “go” to brainstorm more, we might ask:
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- What do people most frequently ask me for advice?
- What stories am I always telling?
- What have I lived through that’s full of wonder, weirdness, or weightiness?
Step Three: Where are you willing to Linger Longer?
Writing a book resembles long beach days. There will be fun. There will be exhaustion. There will be irritations. What will help hold the joy and press through the heat and pests that swarm?
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- What are you willing to explore for months on end?
- Will you still be dedicated to this idea after 127 pages of writing, crumbled-up pages you toss aside, and detours stickier than a spilled bottle of overturned apple juice in the summer sun?
- What holds your attention?
Step Four: What fits Your Why?
One grandchild writes messages in the sand; another sets up an obstacle course so they can hop, skip, and jump. On some beach days, I want to relax, sit by the shore, watch the waves, and read a good book. In my younger days, I had excess energy to burn, so I’d be eager to bodysurf, whereas nowadays, I crave a long walk at the shore’s edge while collecting seashells. My desires fuel my choices.
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- What’s your Why, and how does that lead to your dream?
- Do you want to teach, tell a story, or do a little of both? Do you prefer nonfiction, fiction, or memoir?
- Do you long to inspire or create wonder? Devotional or poetry?
Step Five: What’s the Stickability of this Idea?
Before we set the mats down on the sand, we notice the wind, the sun, and the tide—is it coming in or going out? Before we go into the ocean, we test the waters. Is it too cold or rough for a swim, or more conducive to going barefoot at the sea’s edge? What do the warning flags say about riptides or the presence of jellyfish, and such?
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- Write a paragraph or page or two. Play around with an idea. Let it sit for a bit, then read it again.
- Imagine the finished book in your hand. Does the topic and the process of its creation excite or exhaust you?
- Talk about the theme with a book-loving friend or another writer. What’s their response? What’s your reaction to their response?
Step Six: Wait. Watch. Wonder with Others.
We settle into the spot we’ve chosen at the beach. Then, we sit and decide together as we consider the day’s invitations. Walk? Swim? Snack? Nap? Sandcastle building or shell-collecting? Stillness informs. Togetherness spurs us on.
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- “God, what are You inviting me to write?”
- “Which book am I uniquely equipped to create, called by name to bring forth?”
- Who could come alongside to encourage me, hold me accountable, and be my sounding board?
Step Seven: Bless the Discernment Process.
When we flit about, rushing from one activity to another at the beach, we return home worn out. In that frazzledness, I often realize I’ve missed the beauty and mystery of the beach itself. What was the sound the wind whispered? Were there dolphins leaping? Did osprey dive down for their dinner into the blue depths of the sea? Did the tides wash up olive shells or whelks? What did I miss by being in a hurry? What would I have savored if I’d gone a bit slower, attuned to the day’s delights? Staying present to the moment with gratitude and groundedness allows us to be content in the slow and less tempted to go, go, go.
“God, our Creator, show me how to bless this time of being in a spiritually quiet waiting space. Let me listen to Your heart and my own as I discern what book or project You want me to create. Move me towards You in all that I choose to do. Just as You invite me to enjoy the sounds of the ocean, the beauty of the changing tides, and stillness at the shore just before the day ends, let me enjoy growing wiser and savoring this creative decision process as I wait with You. Amen.”
Discernment delivers us from flighty impulses and disrupts blocked places. What’s your desire? Delight? Distraction? What do you need to move forward with the book of your dreams?
I believe in the power of story and the wonder of the one that lives within you, waiting to be told.
What do you discern that God is inviting you to create? Listen to how He calls forth your unique creativity. What steps will you take to move towards God’s invitation?
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Let’s talk if you want to explore the possibility of working with me for your writing life!
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- Do you have a book stirring within you that springs from your interior life of Christ-centered belovedness?
- Are you ready, willing, and able to invest time, energy, and finances to become the writer God has invited you to be?
- Do you yearn to create a marvelous book that inspires people to gather hope, know joy, and experience more of God?
As a Book Coach, I cheer, support, act as a project manager, listen, guide, and offer feedback in a collaborative connection with you, the writer. As an Author Accelerator certified Book Coach, I use tools gathered from founder Jennie Nash’s creativity and love for writers. I am trained to offer a Mini-Blueprint and a complete Blueprint for a Book. Both provide inventive pathways to help writers delve deep into their why, then lean into the next steps in book creation. Together, we work on a structure for your manuscript and how to dedicate time, space, and energy to the book you dream of creating. Let me accompany you on the way, helping you discern through the thick and thin, from start to finish, the wonder God invites you to create.
