Seriously!

I went to a new group last night. Believe me, no one is more surprised about that than me. Part of me thinks I have no business adding another group into my life.

In my defense... not that I'm feeling defensive or anything. Ha! I will not be leading this group. And, it only meets once per month.

It is a Writer's Group. I've been aware that these things exist for a number of years now. I've been slightly interested for a number of reasons. Technically, I am not a good writer. Grammar rules and skills do not remain in my brain. It's very annoying. But there has also been a significant amount of reservation too. I was so thrilled when many of my reservations were specifically addressed in the presentation given at the meeting.

Last night, I received insight into why it's easy for me to write something the length of a blog but much more difficult to transition my style or writing into chapter length. I now understand what is happening or not happening as the case may be.

I now understand why free writing for 30 minutes used to be an exercise that I enjoyed and why it stopped being an enjoyable exercise.

And, I don't want to be a part of a critique group. This is an encouragement group. There is a difference and Frank Ball was quite articulate about the difference. Critics do what they do for their own benefit. People who encourage are used to bring out the courage in others. I am so grateful that this group is being led by people who know the difference!

Recently I watched a great video on story telling that also gave me a structure clue that I've been needing in order have a framework to work on telling my stories. Nancy Duarte gives the presentation at TEDxEast.

So the areas I was becoming clear on where supported. The concerns I had were addressed. And places where there was confusion have been cleared up just enough to move forward.

And the double icing on the cake for the whole evening is that two ladies who have gone through Listen To My Life with me are the leaders of this new group. Oh my goodness the joy of watching them step out in faith and start this new venture together was just crazy fun to watch! Crazy fun!

Here's the one significant and remaining problem. When am I going to write?

Dear Lord,

I am super excited about all that has happened in the last six months to a year with this. I'm grateful for the unknowns that have been helped. I'm just wondering when on earth I'm going to be able to set aside the time to do the writing. If you could show me what I have to give up or help me see time that I do not see right now, I'd appreciate that! Thank you for putting people in my life that can truly help me with all this! Blessings on them and their writing adventures I pray!

Amen