Let It Be

Advice to a struggling young writer who wants her writing to reflect her faith, and is anxious about being published:

Don’t put so much pressure on yourself that everything becomes magnified to a greater importance than it really is.

A story is just a story. Let it be that. Let it be the result of your struggle and your confusion and your quest for the truth of God.

But don’t think it must become a novel to be shared with the world.

Because that may be the exact opposite of what it is.

Writing is good therapy. So are other arts. Ask any counselor or therapist. Your story could be considered a creative version of a journal, a record of your journey as you figure out life and faith and myriad other matters.

Perhaps, years and years later, as a wiser and stronger and more mature person, you’ll return to this story and shape it into something magnificent. Perhaps you read it and smile and put away again, keeping it only as a memento of how far you’ve come.

I have such a story, written in my teens. When I found it again several years ago, I realized that much of it had crept into my current novel — subconscious details about plot or character or setting — and I’d unknowingly crafted a far better version of that original tale.

Relax. Fall back into the arms of a loving Father who is ready and waiting to guide you. You may find that what you’re struggling to make happen now is one He’ll help make happen slowly, unexpectedly, all along the way.

c 2012, KB — late November, walkin’ with Bubba