Green Thumb Writers by Steph Beth Nickel

First published on the InScribe Christian Writers' Fellowship blog, June 3, 2017.

Remember the colour wheel your art teacher used in high school? If you forget what it looks like, you can check it out on Google images—which is what I did.

See that pretty green segment? Go straight across from it and you’ll discover red on the opposite side of the wheel. That’s the colour of my thumb—at least in the area of gardening.

Words—Delightful, Expressive Words Ruth Smith Meyer

Words have always brought me pleasure. There isn’t much greater satisfaction than to closely look at an emotion or circumstances then choose a word with the ideal nuance or shade of meaning to perfectly portray the situation. Perhaps that is why, as a teenager, I read the entire dictionary. People have teased me about that and some have even scoffed at the idea of such boring reading. During that time, I decided to choose words that I could incorporate into my vocabulary. Each week, I would choose one and see how often I could use it in my normal every-day life.

Take for instance, my delight in words, described in my first sentence as pleasure. Without hunting in my Roget's or other sources, just using the Thesaurus that comes with my Microsoft Word, I can choose the nuance I like from enjoyment, happiness, delight, joy, bliss, contentment, satisfaction, gratification; amusement, recreation, fun, leisure, diversion; desire, preference, wish, liking, inclination, will. All of these are relatively common, but can enhance your conversation or writing.

On line, yourdictionary.com provides added synonyms: felicity, rapture, ease, comfort, gladness, delectation, relish, kicks

Further explanation follows: pleasure is the general term for an agreeable feeling of satisfaction, ranging from a quiet sense of gratification to a positive sense of happiness; delight implies a high degree of obvious pleasure, openly and enthusiastically expressed a child's delight with a new toy; joy describes a keenly felt, exuberant, often demonstrative happiness their joy at his safe return; enjoyment suggests a somewhat more quiet feeling of satisfaction with that which pleases our enjoyment of the recital

Of course, as a writer, there’s practical help in a variety of words. When we have need to repeat the same emotion or description several times in close proximity, choosing different words with like meaning can not only keep your writing fresh, but can add emphasis and depth to any scene or account.

Some people are especially adept at using the English language in refreshing ways. Poets are often among these, but some do so with prose. If you haven’t read Ann Voskamp’s best-selling book One Thousand Gifts or her blog Holy Experience, look for them. She is a master at phrases and descriptions that bring vivacious energy into the ordinary and routine. As an example here are a few quotes from one of Ann’s recent blogs.

“I bear the stretchmarks of my 2011.” (Doesn’t that describe a growing year?)

"There's only one address anyone lives at and it's always a duplex: joy and pain always co-habit every season of life. Accept them both and keep company with the joy while the pain does its necessary renovations." (What better advice, expressed in clear terms, could one want for the beginning of a ne year?)

I encourage you to do what I want to do this year--look at my ordinary, ever-day world and describe it in ways that will bring new meaning and understanding of the opportunities each moment presents.

Yeah for stretch-marks and renovations!

What it Means to be a Christian Writer - Rose Mccormick Brandon

The beginning of a new year is always a good time to reflect on what it means to be a writer who is Christian.

It means approaching the task of writing with trust in God. Abel presented his perfect sacrifice to the Lord, obediently, without needing a pat on the back to show the world he’d done the right thing and done it well. Sometimes I find the need for approval and feedback gets in the way of trusting God in my writing. Feedback comes in pits and patters, a little here, a little there. I’ve had to learn not to depend on readers' glowing comments, and when they do come, not to savour them too long. I appreciate positive feedback. But I don’t want to need it. Like Abel, I want to present my writing gift to God, lay it down as an offering and walk away to prepare my next gift. Other writers seem to develop this attitude without effort. For me, writing with trust in God is a work in progress.

It means writing with a brave heart. Perhaps no one will agree with my point of view, even be offended by it. For those reasons, I might be tempted to shroud my points in indecisive language. If God has given me something to write, I should write it clearly, with bravery. What I don’t want is for readers to scratch their heads and ask, “What in the world is she talking about?” I want to write with courage, whatever the consequences. It takes courage, not only to write, but to submit our precious words to editors, agents and publishers. Sometimes the writing alone life feels like we're dangling at the end a rope with no one at the other end to haul us back to safety.

It means writing with devotion to the task at hand. Laziness lurks. Voices beckon. Worthy projects call my name. They attempt to drag me away from God’s main calling. They’ve succeeded too often. If I don’t stick to the main thing, I’ll be overwhelmed, drowned in a sea of causes, other people’s dreams. I won’t fulfill my God-calling, the calling to write. Writing is hard work. Getting started is like trying to board a plane without a ticket. My fragile trains of thought, so easily re-routed. Only devotion can help me meet the challenges of the writing life.

Writing with trust, bravery and devotion. That’s my goal for 2012.