Work in progress
Writing is a funny business sometimes. You pour out hundreds, thousands of words, thoughts and feelings – be it on paper, in an old trusty notebook, or onto a computer screen – and then, you erase many of them and rework, rewrite, revise until you are blue in the face.
I’ve always loved writing, the actual pouring out of my soul, or the story I just can’t get out of my mind. On the other hand, I’ve always found the editing process to be my nemesis. Actually, that’s not quite true. I thoroughly enjoy helping other people to revise their work, it is just my own that seems to be such a challenge.
I’m currently in the final stages of editing my second full-length novel. I wrote the story during my pregnancy with our little first-born, frantically typing words as my due-date grew closer and closer. I was desperate to have the story which flitted around my mind all day, every day, on paper before the baby arrived and I would have limited time in which to write. I heaved a sigh of relief as I typed the last words and sent the manuscript off to my editor. While slightly shorter than my first novel, Ya’acov’s Well, this second one was still much in need of trimming, proof-reading and revising. And so began the process I’ve always found such a challenge.
I have learnt to love receiving other people’s critiques of my work and seeking to put it into practice, but sometimes it can be so hard to see what needs to be done. In between my manuscript’s visits to the editor and my pre-reading group, I often sit hunched over my old laptop, trying desperately to figure out what I need to do with a particularly troublesome section. I’m working on my editing skills and I like to think I’m improving as I go, but if there is one thing I have realised, it is this - you need another (maybe several!) set of eyes to help you get on track. It is much harder to see glaring errors, or badly written passages, when they are your own.
I’m currently in revision mode myself, before my manuscript goes back to visit the editor again and it is all too obvious to me as I work, how invaluable the editor’s comments are. As I was thinking about it this morning, I realised how comparable the editing process is to the Holy Spirit’s work in our own lives. I am naturally the sort of person who loves to have everything planned and in order, but I am realising more and more that if I depend on myself for sanctification, for keeping my life “together”, for order and for purpose, things fall apart. It is God’s word, His comments on the manuscript of my life, if you will, that keeps me on track.
His Word tells us that all Scripture is God-breathed, useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). That sounds a lot like editing to me. God takes our imperfect lives and as we walk in Him, praying and reading His Word, He moulds and shapes us. He doesn’t leave us riddled with error and mistakes, but He offers us reproof and corrections. He refines us.
As we grow in faith, as we are sanctified and mature as believers, our blatant errors decrease, but they are there nonetheless. Our own eyes are not enough, alone, to see them. We need the Holy Spirit’s guidance through His Word, and also through others placed around us to help us on our faith journey. They encourage us in what is good and point out what is not and how we can change to be better, to be more pleasing to the Father. It is not a pleasant process, but the outcomes are.
Just as looking back on early manuscripts and seeing how far you’ve come makes a writer shake their head in wonder, so does looking back and seeing how God has changed you as a person. And it is exciting to think where He will take you next!
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” - Hebrews 4:16
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”- John 15:1-2
In my book, Ya’acov's Well, the main character, Mara bat Mal’akhiy, has an encounter with Jesus that changes her forever and sets her feet on the path of life. She experiences this “divine editing” effect, as God shapes her from the woman she was, into the woman He made her to be. For your free chapter, fill in the contact form.
Nina
For Nina’s books and blogs, or to make contact, visit ninapeck.co.nz