In fiction, the Reluctant Hero is a protagonist who recognizes they’re stuck in a rut (or unhealthy/unsafe situation) but has to be jolted or dragged out of their comfort zone at the beginning of the story before their true journey can begin. Even then, it takes them a while to fully commit to the journey,…
Author: Jennifer Lindsay
In literature, the Reckless Hero is someone who jumps into the fray with abandon (and often without a clear plan of action). The reckless hero doesn’t mind picking things up as they go along, but as a result, they may find themselves in a sticky spot because they’re not always the best at listening to…
We live in a world that’s constantly putting multiple demands on our attention at once. This makes it especially difficult to rein in our focus when we have to spread out our attention between our day jobs, our family obligations, our concerns about what’s going on in the world at large, and what we hope to accomplish with our writing.
While working on multiple different projects can help us discover what type of writing we enjoy most and can help us start adding publishing credits to our name, it can also leave us feeling a bit like we’re “butter that’s been spread over too much bread.” Before too long, we can find ourselves looking back and wondering where we are and how we got here.
The road to get from writing the first words of a story to its official last sentence may take a little longer than you’d like, but I can say with confidence as one who is still on her own journey, it’s worth the extra time.
Our position in life and the things we have (or haven’t) experienced aren’t the only things that qualify us to speak into our readers lives. Do we have a desire to learn? Are we willing to listen? Are we confident that when we allow ourselves to be stretched as individuals and as writers, we can grow in areas we hadn’t anticipated?
Merriam-Webster defines the word “encourage” as “to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope. To hearten.” It also defines it as “to attempt to persuade: to urge”; “to spur on: to stimulate”; and “to give help or patronage to: to foster.”
MW defines influence as “the power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways. To sway.” It also defines the word as “the act or power of producing an effect with apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command.”
(January 23, 2018) Lord, I received a much-needed reminder that busyness isn’t the same thing as productiveness. Nor is working for you the same thing as working with you. Once again, I have caught myself running myself in circles and wearying myself out. Thank you for reminding me that you are the source of my inspiration and the wellspring…
I’ve discovered that—like many of the stories we read—our core doubt or fear is often in direct opposition to our core desire or dream.