Comments on: My Wandering Eyes

By: Diana

Diana — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:47:07 +0000

God has redeemed all the hardest, worst things that have ever happened to me. They have come to define me and my worldview. They have made me stronger. I don’t like pain – who does? And yes, I’ve asked God why. But what I know is that God redeems all those things we call “bad.” He promises to: Romans 8:28. To me that sounds like a happy ending.

By: Sue Harrison

Sue Harrison — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:41:26 +0000

First, to Heather of the EO, I love your original words – “beauty in grace” – because by God’s grace we are able to survive the most heart-rending tragedies and again see the beauty in life.

Second, to Billy, in several of my novels I wrote about the loss of a child, and I believe I was able to do so effectively (at least that’s what my readers thought) because I was drawing on my own painful experience of losing a daughter to meningitis. I needed years of coping with my loss before I COULD write about similar situations, but then the writing served as a very healing force in my life, and I hope in the lives of others, too.

Sue Harrison

By: Poetry Words « Together for Good

Poetry Words « Together for Good — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:27:46 +0000

[...] how I feel every time I write, especially when I’m writing poetry. As Billy Coffey said the other day, the words are always there; for the writer it’s just a matter of pulling out [...]

By: Heather of the EO

Heather of the EO — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:44:19 +0000

That should have been “beauty AND grace.” I didn’t piece together my words very well

By: Heather of the EO

Heather of the EO — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:43:35 +0000

It’s true, I think. Writing is an opportunity to really see that truth. It’s such a gift because it helps you live in that truth. If you piece together the world puzzle, you inevitably think your way to seeing the beauty in grace in absolutely everything. Even terribly hard things.

Love this post, Billy.

By: Erin

Erin — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 16:47:05 +0000

I’m glad it’s not just me. Sometimes I wish i could turn off the words for a few minutes and just enjoy life. I’m trying to enjoy it through the words as much as possible.

By: Charlene Ann Baumbich

Charlene Ann Baumbich — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 16:24:13 +0000

Beautifully stated. Since I was little–before I had any idea I was a writer–people have asked me, Where do you GO?! Not until I was in my late thirties, when I started writing, did *I know. Not until I saw a photograph someone captured of my mental “escape” did I even understand what they were talking about. Eyes “over there,” glazed, pensive, studied … collecting what would later end up on a page.

I’ve written for newspapers and magazines, and published a sizable body of both nonfiction books and novels. My answer to your question “Is there any situation, any event, that with time and healing cannot be put to the page?” is NO. Landing in the right format is the key. Some truths are best told through fiction. Other times, it’s head-on nonfiction confession, expression and flat out hysterical commentary on our lives.

I believe if we honor the Truth of our own stories, no matter what the format, it will resonate with others. The hardest things to write about often deliver the most healing balms for both the writers and readers.

Thanks for the topic. It’s a gooder!

By: Caroline

Caroline — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:26:16 +0000

The intimacy of that relationship so well described leads me to think am I really meant to write? It is clear from your writings and from the intimacy described that this was meant to be your calling in every sense of the word.
About the question I will have to leave that to the experts. I am still attempting to write.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:41:48 +0000

I don’t write constantly in my mind, although when I’m in a more ‘writing’ frame of mind I do think about writing while I’m experiencing things. But when I’m with people having a serious conversation, I’m in the moment. Maybe it comes from also being a teacher (I homeschool my children) and being with my kids twenty-four hours a day. I can’t think about writing when there are tons of distractions. I think that’s why some of my best ideas come late at night, when it’s quiet.

I wrote about how I became a writer three posts ago. I truly love writing, but I suppose I shouldn’t call myself a writer since I don’t do it for a living and it is more of a hobby for me. Or perhaps I am just a different kind of writer. Lots of emotions tied up in it all, for sure.

As far as your question goes, I like the quotes people have put up and I don’t have anything else to add.

By: Sarah Salter

Sarah Salter — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:45:06 +0000

I’m not so bad with “the wandering eye” but I’m really bad about “the wandering brain.” I have to be really careful about being so lost in my little writer world that when people walk in and call my name, I bark: “WHAT?!” (My boss really frowns on that kind of attitude…)