Encouragement From The Guys!

It’s a distinct possibility that a few people misunderstood my previous post on encouragement and were under the impression I was talking about ego stroking or relying on other people’s appreciation for our sense of self-worth.  Being misinterpreted is something that I’m already beginning to get used to – which is useful, as it’s sure to happen more and more the further along this writing journey that I get :-)

True encouragement isn’t about sycophantic praise, but giving people courage to press on.  That’s the best explanation I’ve ever heard on encouragement in this sermon from my much missed church leader, Arnold Bell.  It was definitely one of those mornings when you feel like the speaker is talking solely and directly to you!

Although I stand by my comment about encouragement being a predominantly female attribute, it would be wrong not to acknowledge that some of the most powerful sources of encouragement for me on this writing journey have been male. While I do have a few male friends who make the effort to encourage me (thank you guys!), most of that male encouragement comes in more general and public ways, rather than personally.

Someone I find constantly encouraging, via Twitter, is Nicky Gumbel. What a wise, inspiring and godly guy - I wish he was my dad!  He has that amazing gift of so often having the right words at the right time for me.  I could give you pages of examples from his tweets but here’s my current Top 5:

Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.

Be generous with encouragement. It is verbal sunshine. It costs nothing, it warms hearts and enriches lives.

'To avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.'

Humility is not a denial of ability; it is a recognition of where it comes from and for whom it must be used.

If you think you are too small to make a difference, you haven't spent the night with a mosquito - African Proverb

 (And one for luck - If the grass looks greener on the other side, it's probably astroturf.)

Another key encouragement and inspiration recently has been a musician called Michael Gungor.  He’s written an amazing book called “The Crowd, The Critic and The Muse: A Book For Creators”, and it’s what he talks about in relation to the title that really resonated with me.  Whatever you create – art, writing, poetry, craft, photography, cookery, anything - it’s important to consider where our creativity flows from and what influences it.  This extract sums up issues that I’ve already started to face and will do even more so, if any of my work is ever published.

“For the creator there will always be the voices.

Voices of critique.  Voices of affirmation.  The voices of the ego and the audience.  The marketers, the fans, the bloggers, or the executives.  The more exposure that an artist has to the outside world, the louder the voices will become.  The more successful the work, the more people will step in to try to influence and manipulate the work for their own benefit.

The creator has a decision to make.

What voice will I listen to?

This decision must be made daily.  Hourly.  Moment to moment.  As the voices swell and pitch, demanding that she go this way or that, the creator must decide which voice to listen to.

The crowd, the critic or the muse?

This decision will give her creation its form.”

The critic – real or imagined – can be very useful and enable us to see and take action on flaws and weaknesses in our work.  But it can also be crippling or make us change our work into something it shouldn’t be, just to keep them happy.

The problem with always listening to the crowd is, again, the temptation to create something that they want, rather than creating what I truly want to create. There’s no harm in keeping in mind what might be commercially viable – and I do – but if I write a story that I think will satisfy the crowd mentality, rather than express what is within me, then I won’t be writing fully with my voice.  It could become a commercial product, a churning out of the same old, same old, instead of something that is deeply unique and personal.

The muse should be the primary source of our creativity:

“Creative work should not come out of who the external voices want you to be, or who you wish you were, but from who you are.

You are not a mere cog in a machine.  You are a human being, unique and miraculous.  The whirls and lines in the skin of your fingertips are unique to you.  Only you have your particular set of relationships, beliefs, passions and circumstances, and only you have the ability to create what you ought to create.

As an artist, the voices you listen to ought to align with that inner Voice who knows who you are.”

As a Christian, that Voice for me is God.  He is my Encourager, and seeing as He told me to be a writer in the first place, His encouragement alone can keep me writing ;-)  He is also my Inspiration and the Source of my creativity.  I’m not writing Christian books, but they will naturally contain my worldview as it’s part of who I am and I am their author.  Being a Christian writer could undoubtedly be a cause for criticism from some people in the future, even though few other writers will have their beliefs delved into and criticised in the same way.  However, if I try to write and create anything other than my stories, then I may as well not write at all.  If you want different stories then fair play - but someone else will write those for you.

My stories – whether I’m conscious of it in the writing process or not – spring from my unique set of “relationships, beliefs, passions and circumstances”, as do everyone else’s.  I’m only just beginning to discover how those emerge and merge in my writing, but it’s a fascinating process.  And if you ever want to give me courage to press on with that (aka encouragement) – whether you’re male or female! – then please feel free!  I will endeavour to the same for you :-)