Comments on: Destressing Step 2: Hopeful but Realistic

By: Marcia Laycock

Marcia Laycock — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:25:25 +0000

Thanks for this post, Janet. It’s really a matter of focus isn’t it? If we focus on all that is or could be wrong and insurmountable we’ll be stymied and immobilized. But when we focus on what is true, noble and right (Phil. 4:8)we are given the courage to go on. When I get discouraged as a writer I re-read some of the letters and emails readers have sent, telling me how their lives changed because God used something I wrote. Then my focus moves to the role God has given me and I move on.
Blessings, Marcia

By: Lynn Dean

Lynn Dean — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:50:43 +0000

What a wonderful post! Very encouraging.

I tend to be very goal oriented, so if the process gets long, it’s easy to feel discouraged–as if delay in reaching the goal is equal to failure. What helps me is to remember that God is often more interested in the process than the product. It’s not that He doesn’t want me to finish and finish well, but He also has things to teach me as I work toward that end. The process is in no way time wasted.

By: Lucy

Lucy — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:35:13 +0000

Bless that soldier; I hope he goes on living in his dream home for the rest of his life. Thank you, Janet, for sharing the story.

By: Linda Stanek

Linda Stanek — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:37:40 +0000

I also find resilience in my critique group–other writers whose work I respect tremendously, who remind me of my own strengths as a writer when I seem to have forgotten them myself. There are those who will squash you down, and those people are to be avoided; this business does enough squashing on its own. And there are those who will uplift you when you need it, and offer realistic praise and hope. They are a very important part of my writing life.

By: Jan Rider Newman

Jan Rider Newman — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:18:22 +0000

Yes!

By: janetgrant

janetgrant — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:15:29 +0000

Sue, thanks for putting the thoughts in this post into writerly terms. You’ve captured the hopeful reality for a writer well.
Kelli, it’s so true that our ultimate hope should be placed in the One who holds the outcome in His hand.
My husband and I watched the musical Carousel the other night, and I’ve been humming “Walk on” ever since. Knowing we’ll “never walk alone through the wind and the rain” makes such a difference.

By: Marcus Brotherton

Marcus Brotherton — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:40:49 +0000

This is an excellent post, thank you.

By: Kelli

Kelli — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:02:50 +0000

I love this quote from Shakespeare:
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

I think the same can be said about hope.

This is one of the (many) things I appreciate about the Books & Such team. You’ve looked on tempests and not been shaken.

I think for me, what’s important is the source of that optimism. My optimism can fade like mist in the desert when hard times come, but true hope comes from a deeper place.

For Christian writers, hope must come from believing in the goodness of God’s intentions toward us, come hell or high water. It’s hard to get to that place of trust in our lives. But that kind of hope is what inspires dauntless optimism like what you describe.

That, or just having a perky, perpetually optimistic personality. I’ve met some of these wonderments of humanity in the wild, but, sadly, I’m not one of them

By: Sue Harrison

Sue Harrison — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:31:03 +0000

Realism is seeing the flaws in your current manuscript. Hope is having the courage to rewrite. Many times.

Sue Harrison