Window on Writing: Upside Down and Right Side Up

The room is dark.

The house is cold.

I snuggle deep under the down comforter.

And reach out my hand to fumble for the Droid on the bedside table.

While the mantra runs through my head.

Hit your knees before you hit the keys. ~@stickyJesus

But I pull the Droid under the covers.

And hit the keys.

I check my email and find I’ve received a blog comment on yesterday’s post that totally encourages me.

I click on today’s post from @stickyJesus to find eight ways to boost my Kingdom influence online. “They (the disciples) turned the world upside down because their hearts had been turned right side up.” Tami and Toni quote Billy Graham.

I want my heart turned right side up.

I run over to Kim Cash Tate’s blog. She’s talking the birds and the bees at the dinner table. Sharing God’s perspective on male/female relationships.

“Do you color your kids’ (or grandkids’) perspective on male/female relationships?” she asks.

And I start to think about God’s standards of purity and how I can share that with my grandgirls.

On Facebook, Cheryl Smith shares this status update: “Laughing at Peter Smith this morning as he let Bailey (our cat) in the house. ‘Thank you for scratching our door. You are a blessing to our family.’ Now that’s counting gifts, right Ann Morton Voskamp? That man is a hoot!”

I giggle.

But then I begin to think about the little things, even the silly things, that I can count as gifts.

I follow Carol’s link to her blog where I find a tower of writing books. Fifty-three she says she has. She’s cleaning some of them out, and she’s giving one away to someone who comments on her blog about Rachelle Gardner’s lists regarding what an editor looks for in a manuscript. “On Monday her post was all about characters. On Tuesday the topic was the story itself.”

I’ve already read those posts, but I make a mental note to read them again and come back to comment.

I know I’m decluttering for Lent, but I’d really like that Annie Dillard book on writing. And I’m seriously thinking of tossing the six- (maybe seven)-foot silk ficus. The one that collects dust and whose Spanish moss the grandbaby strews all over the living room.

So it’s a trade-off.

Over on Twitter I soak in various scriptures and inspirational thoughts.

Like this from @CindeeSniderRe:  “A breath before dawn, palest rose blushes morning’s cheeks. Stirred ember of Heaven, Spirit-blown, enflames the sun. JOY awaking day!”

And Steven Pressfield is talking about Paul Anka on his blog.

I remember Paul. He’s still singing. And putting on a whale of a show.

Steven writes, “We as professionals must keep reinforcing to ourselves the notion that we are having fun, this is art, this is innovation, this is a gift for others. This is our soul’s calling and our life’s passage. Because it is. We need to take a lesson from Paul Anka and be a pro like he is.”

And these words stand out to me: fun, art, gift, calling.

Excellence.

I feel the need to open the Word.

I’ve done everything upside down this morning.

But I’m grateful to the words of others that propel me into the Word.

For words that help turn my heart right side up.

That’s the kind of writer I want to be.

My heart bursts its banks, spilling beauty and goodness.
I pour it out in a poem to the king,
shaping the river into words. ~Psalm 45:1 (Message)