Wrestling With the Craft, Together

My friend and fellow ICW member Angela and I had a brief FB discussion today about how we visualize our writing. This season of her journey, she compares finding the right words to Jacob wrestling the angel for the blessing. It’s a great analogy.

Whereas, I’m at a phase of novel revision in which crafting, molding, refiring and refining again—wordsmithing—is how I picture my work.

This made me think of all the different writing phases where we ICW writers find ourselves this holiday season, as we walk this journey together. There are proven techniques for crafting a good book or novel, and also for successfully becoming a published author.

But we often have different goals for our writing, different methods of reaching those goals, different ways we visualize our work, different hopes and dreams for the futures of our stories, different needs and desires. There are many and various ways to approach and carry out this writing life.

Of course, this evokes pictures of us as a body of believers, and it struck me, when it comes to operating as one body, we have the ability to become shape-shifters for each other’s benefit. While in our own writing, we may be the brain designing words, or the fingers typing paragraphs, (or the body wrestling!) for our fellow writers we may be the encouraging voice, the pre-reader eyes, the brainstorming ears.

The Christmas season can be a busy and even challenging one, amidst the joy and giving.

Soon, though, will come those long, dark, quiet evenings of deep winter—perfect afternoons and evenings for digging deep and completing those writing projects. And we all know that writing (despite the image that many people have) isn’t a solitary pursuit. Reach out to your fellow ICW members this winter for encouragement, education, ideas, and community. We are a body. We’re in this together. Might as well make the most of it! 😊

Blog posts do not necessarily represent the beliefs of all ICW Members.

Art by Yoram Ranaan