How Great Thou Art

This month as I am striving hard to complete 50K words in the Nanowrimo contest I have taken on a wider, bigger goal that that as well.

If you've been following along with me you know that this is my second year doing Nano.  (See previous post here.)  However last year my goal was just the 50K.  This year I wanted to swallow the whole experience - write every day a certain amount of words.  In order to do that I needed to be disciplined.  To be honest, discipline is something that is often absent in my life.  I am more of a whatever-you-feel-like-at-the-moment kind of gal.  So before I entered into this contest I decided it needed to encompass more than my writing.

I decided to be disciplined with God too.  So I set my alarm for 5 am every week day.  I get up, make a tea and a fire and sit down on the couch with my Bible and  a devotional book.  Then after spending half an hour with God I open my laptop and start to write.  Depending how fast I type that morning I can almost complete the daily word count in the next hour before my children need to be wakened for school.  I was amazed at how a little discipline made a huge difference in my life.

• It renews my love for my Saviour   
• It gives me a boost for my day.  
• And before 7 am I can complete my biggest challenge of the day.

Now part two of this new me is how do I keep it going for a month. I am also not a good finisher.  I wanted to be successful not just in building a writing habit but more so a quiet time habit. Here I am on day 16 of the month long challenge and this is my progress report.  I have missed three mornings of writing.  I have missed zero mornings of quiet time.

How did I manage that yo may ask?  Once I slept in too long and just used my time to read the Bible instead of cracking my laptop open.  Then twice I woke up with headaches.  I read from my bible then curled up on the couch with a blanket and went back to sleep until my kids had to get up.

I don't tell you this to boast.  For I have done nothing incredible.  I have just been obedient.  I do tell you this to encourage you. Mostly though, I tell you this to share what happened this morning.  I woke at 5 am with a song in my head.  That is not all too different.  But today the hymn was How Great Thou Art.  It was so strong and clear I decided to grab a hymnal and sing through the song before I started my Bible reading.  It was a nice way to begin my morning with God.  Then I opened my devotional and the bible reading was from Psalm 66.

Shout for joy to God, all the earth! 
Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious. 
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! 
So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. 
All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, 
they sing the praises of your name

It was one of those little reminders (a fingerprint of God on my day) that He is in control.  He reigns in my mornings and in my nights.  He reigns in my writing and in my other daily duties.

Then I shall bow in humble adoration, and there proclaim, my God how great Thou art.

If you need a little pick me up check out this video.

Write on Purpose ... over and over again

Everyone ends up somewhere.

But few people end up somewhere on purpose.

Those were words shared in the sermon this last Sunday at my church.  They have stuck like glue in my head, dripping into almost everything I've done so far this week.  Aside from becoming a sticky mess, they have focused me on a bigger prize.

Getting where I want to go ON PURPOSE, not by accident.

It is a perfect mantra for me this month.  It is, after all NaNoWriMo month.

HUH?   NaNoWriMo is the National Novel Writing Month.  So basically a writer has one month to write 50K words in a novel.

"For fun?", you ask.

Yes.  But more so to get somewhere on purpose.  See, a writer's life can be solitary and lonely.  In fact no one around may even be aware you are a writer unless you tell them.  Or better yet, show them a finished product.  NaNo tries to ingrain in writers a habit of writing everyday - just like a full time author would do.  On purpose.

Have a little faith today.

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith."

~Franklin D. Roosevelt

I have been debating whether or not I should enter the NaNoWriMo contest again this year.  It is a month long writing contest where a writer starts a book and finishes it (minimum 50K words) in exactly a month.  The month of November, to be exact. That is precisely where they get the crazy name from. NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth.  Check it out on line if you wish.  This is the link.

Last year I joined the party and I even finished my novel.  It was my fifth complete novel that year.  (You can find a little blurb about it on the OtherProjects Page.  It is aptly documented under the number five heading.)

I had assumed it would be a lot easier than my contest I do each year to write a whole novel in 3 days.  After all, I had been writing large chunks of words for 10 months prior to that and thought 50 thousand words would be a piece of cake.  

Well ... It wasn't.  

The whole point behind the month long contest is build a new habit.