The story is still asleep.  It dreams.~From the movie, Here

Birds on a wire.  Their quiet presence often snaps me out of my frenzy of doing.  When I see them lined up like lovely, dark punctuation marks, I have this mysterious recognition once again of God's grace--a realization that I am in His care--that sweet spot where I understand that my most diligent assignment is to allow myself to be the focus of His delight.

This comprehension happens repeatedly for me, because it is in direct oppostion to our performance-based culture--the drive to produce more, compete, be the best, out do one another.  I hate it, honestly--especially as a writer. To survive I must constantly be thinking of marketing and tweeting and creating a platform.  "Why did that person 'unfollow' me?"  The response from the query letter stated, "I could not wholeheartedly connect with your manuscript."  Am I headed right?  When I'm writing, I feel most like myself. Sometimes I feel like tossing all my efforts overboard. And meanwhile the story for my next book sleeps in this vast sea of self-doubt.

Then I'll see another bird.  There is one small chickadee that likes to perch on the fence in my backyard.  He often sits there, at peace, for long stretches.  Then I'll watch him flit away into the woods.  And I learn some coping from him.  As a writer, I need times of solitude to think and pray and collect my thoughts--to dictate my impressions and observations.  Most every day I take time to write in the mornings.  This is often where some of my best ideas are seeded for creative story lines.  This is the time that acts as a buffer to keep me brave enough to sound my voice on social media.  It is often a time where I sense God speaking to me and providing courage to keep moving forward on this writing path that contains numerous unfamiliar arcs and curves.

I think that I know this concept of staying connected to myself as a writer--that I've finally gotten it. But over and over and over again I forget, until I see that line of birds that reminds me to lift my eyes to the Creator--the One who helps rouse my story from its dreams.