Nurturing a Writer

My husband is reading Adorning the Darkness by Andrew Peterson.

Norah is reading The Hundredfold by Anthony Esolen.

I'm reading The Roar on the Other Side by Suzanne Rhodes and Standing by Words by Wendell Berry.

We are all talking together about what we are reading.

And we find that we being equipped from all sides about the importance of creativity, art, poetry, and/ or words.

In the last few weeks, Norah has been asking questions about her gifts.

It can't be easy to have people in your head.

But before he wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis says Aslan just walked into his mind. (The audacity of asserting Himself like Aslan that, like He was a king or something.)

It can't be easy to be expected to live in two or three or four worlds at once.

But Tolkien created the Middle Earth including all the geography, language, mythology, and history before he wrote The Lord of The Rings.

Can you imagine what it must be like in Brandon Sanderson's head?

So now Norah's getting answers from all directions about what is like to be a writer and she's thriving and encouraged.

I even randomly come upon quotes in Shakespeare.

But actually, I don't believe those are random at all.

One of the greatest writers of the English language is an authority worth listening to when it comes to writing.

When Dwayne read the poem "The Writer" by Richard Wilbur, he cried. (The poem was mentioned in Adorning the Dark.)

And then he showed it me and I cried.

And then I showed it to Norah and she sat speechless, but smiling.

She wrote three chapters of a novel yesterday and I tell you, the whole house felt the pressure of that effort.

"I need to get this story out of my head," she said.

We asked God to show us what gifts He gave our children.

And we asked Him to help us nurture those gifts.

We knew we needed Him to guide us as we guided them.

He is definitely doing so!

It is "a matter of life and death" and God knows it.  

He is bringing to life the things He wants for Norah and it's exhilarating to be a part of the process.