A little over three years ago, I began writing here at clearingtheattic.com. At the time, I had several reasons for writing a blog. I wanted it to be a repository of helpful things that I had taught or put together for our youth ministry. I also just wanted to create a place where I could drop my thoughts, a place with more interaction than a journal, but perhaps less than something like Facebook.
So here we are three years later and I’ve learned a few things about writing in this format. Here are three of those.
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Writing is a great idea, until you try to do it consistently. It was easy at the beginning to try and write often. I had a lot of thoughts that I had already gathered together and ordered in my mind. Writing was then just a further articulation of what was already clear in my head. But that well of content quickly dried up. Since then, I’ve gone through mental droughts, times where writing just didn’t come easily. Thoughts didn’t lay down on the keyboard to be typed up. I think I’m beginning to understand what a discipline writing is. I’ve not found that ever-flowing well of inspiration that you can tap into that will keep writing from being work. But I think the more consistent you are, the easier it gets in general. Write when you want to. Write when you don’t. A good rule of thumb for most any habit.
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Writing forces you to crystalize your vague notions. This is something I’ve learned not only from writing here, but also in the process of thinking through sermons and teachings. Those concepts and thoughts that seem so clear in my head reveal their vaporous nature when I set out to place them on paper (or computer screen?). Though I might initially think I understand something, the process of articulating it forces me to shape those thoughts into mental airplanes that I can send sailing, rather than leaving them as undeveloped, crumpled up thoughts on the floor of my mind.
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Reading good writing can inspire you to write. Reading those who have a gift in writing stirs up that creative cauldron in your soul to create something as enjoyable as that which you’re reading. Not only this, it awakens your senses to the many ways wordsmiths mold language to communicate. It’s always good to be surrounded by those who are better than you. Unless they point and laugh. That can be a drag.