Gatherings

We are re-evaluating this writer's group and whether or not it meets the need of women writers. Until then, all gatherings are on hold. Stay tuned for updates! Thank you for your patience. Your feedback would be helpful in making this decision.

Grace & peace,

~ deAnn Roe
director of creative arts
717-755-0089 x126

Saturday, April 21, 2007

What makes you think you can write?

"These were the words repeatedly playing in the background of my mind as I sat with pen in hand to produce a piece for our planned meeting in two weeks. What in the world did I let deAnn talk me into? To write a descriptive piece and share it with her for the sake of critique is absolutely insane. Science and medicine are my things, but I’m not a writer. I may be a thinker, teacher, speaker, or even journal-er, but not a writer! Okay, just pretend this is just like any other time you are writing in your journal. Just write! Put words on the page. Just describe what you see and prove to her once and for all that she’s wrong and the reality is that I can’t write anything worth reading."

This is where it began. Recording the description of a scene as I gazed out my window one morning led to Jesus speaking to me in a way that could have never been communicated as clearly nor as concisely as in that moment and in that way. This was more than re-discovering myself as a writer, a voice that had been silenced more than twenty years prior. This was about discovering the dialogue Jesus longed to have with me unique to the way he had made me as a writer and as an observer of his world. But the experience was incomplete until I risked sharing my writing with deAnn inviting her into my conversation with Jesus.

Today as deAnn and I with excitement create this blog, I do so with a desire to do more than write or develop my writing skills. I long to journey with you in the context of a community of emerging writers who are traveling together on the pathway of discovering Jesus. If you will risk yourself in going deeper with Jesus through your writing, through the spiritual disciplines, through building meaningful relationships with other women, then join us for an adventure that he promises to provide beyond all we can ask or think.

~Deb (a scared but willing writer)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Dear Deb,
Let me be the first to comment on your BLOG. Thank you. Thank you for taking the risk - the risk of being vulnerable to others, the risk of venturing into unknown waters, the risk of failing, the risk of succeeding...the risk of growing. There is not always comfort in growing, not always pleasantries, but oh - the risk is SO worth the reward of the precious hand of our Savior upon every intricate detail of our lives. He reigns! Let us step forward then, with willing pens and hearts to see all that He will allow to flow out of us - for His glory to be manifested in us. Sign me up as a fellow risk taker as I jump into the BLOG boat with you and the others. White water rafting or calm water canoeing? What will it be? I have no idea! Maybe both and everything in between. Blog on. Love, Carolyn Butera

jenna said...

you are AWESOME, deb! you listened to god's still small voice, and you acted on that whisper (or was it a SHOUT?). that is true living. thank you!!!! this is gonna be fun - growing, laughing, crying, laughing some more...and creating this masterpiece together that we call life - in collaboration with one another and with the Master Creator. thanks for being such a cool, creative, inspirational, out-of-your-comfort-zone kind of gal!

jenna