Growing up, my father was a pastor to small churches in the mid-western United States. Unlike a number of other preacher’s kids that I have met, I don’t have any salacious insider information about the evil inner workings of church organizations. Much to the contrary, I grew up with a man who was externally and internally very consistent, that is, the person you saw on Sunday was very similar to the person that I saw at the dinner table.
One of the habits that he instilled in my entire family was the desire to build up or encourage the people around us. If there was something we could do that would help someone else, it was simply expected that we would help out. He often talked to me about the importance of building up positive habits. I am often touched by people who I see that exercise these good habits.
How does this relate to writing? Glad you asked. For me writing is an emotional event. I feel the excitement of the my characters as they progress through the story, I am sad for them and I cheer for them. I fight myself so that I don’t just simply solve all of their problems for them. I have the power to do it but that sure doesn’t make for an interesting story.
Where encouragement relates to writing is when I interact with the people who have read my work. When I receive a kind word through email or on a review, it lights up my day. Just before lunch I discovered a new review, this one was from ScottW. Scott if you are reading this, thanks! I have enjoyed the feeling of positive feedback all afternoon.
For me the lesson from this is to be more encouraging and re-establish the habit my father instilled in me so many years ago.
