How often have you encountered this scenario?  You are amidst a group of people at a gathering.  An individual holds everyone’s attention with a story from his life – an event at work, something that happened to him, the antics of his children.  When he completes the story, some one comments, “You ought to write a book.”  The story teller replies, “You know, I think I will someday.”

Perhaps you have been the story teller and time and again, someone has said to you, “You ought to write a book.”  “Some day . . . some day, I just might do that.”  And the thought lingers in your mind for the rest of that day and even part of the next.  You wonder, “Could I really write a book, some day?”

I have been that person many times through my career.  Actually the first time I thought about writing a book was on a hot summer day when I was ten years old.  I was visiting my cousin and on the spur of the moment we decided that we each would write a book – a best seller of course – starting right now!  We grabbed pencils and tablets, dashed out to the front porch where there was a cool breeze and we began to write.  No planning, just writing.  Our pencils flew across the lines on our tablets.  We labored with excitement and anticipation.  After what seemed like an eternity, I looked at my watch: 15 minutes had gone by and I had written one page.  Clearly this was going to take a lot longer than I had anticipated.  My cousin and I looked at each other, glanced at our output, shook our heads and laughed.  We dropped our pencils and tablets on the porch floor and ran off to play.  So much for that some day.

Yet the yearning to write a book never left me.  Wouldn’t it be great to pick up a book “some day” and see my name emblazoned across it as “author?”  But what would I write about?  I didn’t possess any revolutionary ideas or unusual experiences to share.  At least that was what I thought.

Then my someday came . . . sort of.  A colleague challenged me to write a book.  She suggested a topic and format.  The manuscript would be built upon writing I had done in my career in ministry.  I wrote; my colleague edited.  We went in search of a publisher.  I would delight in telling you that within a year, my manuscript was published as my first book.  However, to say that would be to lie.  Thirteen years, 27 rejection letters and 3 re-writes later, that manuscript was published.  During those 13 years, I wrote two more manuscripts.  Each was published.

Three times I’ve been able to call my wife, my sons, and my friends and suggest they check out Amazon.com:  type my name in the search area, click on book and then search.  Inevitably I hear a chuckle or Wow!  I know that they are looking at the cover of a book – my book, right there on Amazon.com.  It is an amazingly wonderful moment.

Resources abound to help folks write books, stories, plays, memoirs.  Check out the writing section of any bookstore or online bookstore.  Similarly one can purchase or subscribe to magazines whose focus is on various elements of writing and helping the emerging writer become a seasoned writer. Many communities have writing groups.  An internet search will uncover writing groups one can join on line.

Be pro-active in making “some day” a reality in your life.  Take the plunge and start writing – not as I did decades ago as a ten year old but as a wizened adult with a plan.  Go to your library.  See what is available on writing.  Search the internet for articles.  Buy a magazine or two that are devoted to writing.  Decide which speaks more to you then consider subscribing to it.  Most importantly, simply begin the journey.  Sit down and start to write.  Your some day has arrived.

Books abound on how to write memoirs, life history, autobiographies.  From its early years, even Write Choice Services has offered a packet “Guidelines to Writing One’s History.”  I confess when I read these books and even our own packet, I tremble and am overwhelmed by the size of the task of writing my story as outlined.  I didn’t feel that way when I wrote Letters to My Sons.  What made the difference?

I settled on a specific number of topics about which I would write.  One can safely argue that each event in one’s life shapes who the person becomes; however, some events carry more clout.  In his best selling book, Self Matters: Creating Your Life from the Inside Out, Dr. Phil McGraw challenges his readers to identify ten defining moments, seven critical choices and five pivotal people.  From my perspective, Dr. Phil presents a very basic outline for telling one’s story.  Imagine what you could and would share with others if you simply wrote about ten defining moments, seven critical choices and five pivotal people in your life.  Stephen Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People provides another simple outline.  What are the 7 habits you have in your life which you believe are essential in making you who you are and the success that you are?

Be creative when writing your life story.  Don’t simply begin with “I was born on . . . in . . .”  In fact, don’t start like that at all.  In writing you do not necessarily need to go chronologically. Pick the critical moments that influenced who you are.

When I wrote Letters . . . I surprised myself with some of the people and events that ultimately found their way into my book. Take your time as you determine the people, the events, the habits that you want to share.  Think and reflect then do it all over again.

Allow yourself to be surprised by what your heart and mind tell you.

Many folks share with me their desire to write their life story.  Some come with the intent of simply sharing their story with their family; others seek a wider market with the dream that their conquering of the travails of life will speak to others.  With those who want to write for family, I celebrate.  With those of dreams of a wider market, I share the hard truth that the world is not necessarily waiting for their life story.  However, I do encourage both groups of individuals to record their life journey so that at least their own immediate family has some record of holiday gatherings, troubled moments that occur in each life, victories, achievements.

I provide two additional suggestions.  First, remember as you write that the reader can not see all that you see and recall in your mind as you record an incident.  Your task as a writer is to provide word images that draw the reader into the emotion of the moment -  the suspense, the joy, the fear, the celebration, the sadness – and to “see” all that you see.  Make that scene and emotion come alive within the reader.  The second suggestion I offer is to determine for yourself the why of your sharing:  why do you believe it is important to write of events in your life?  What do you hope others will gain from it?

I wrote Letters to My Sons: a Father’s Faith Journey because my sons asked me many questions about my faith and my social action involvement.  I wrote the letters to share with them the people and events that shaped who I am.  I elected to publish the letters because I believed my theological perspective on common issues would be helpful to others.

Write the stories of your life with a clear purpose in mind. Use words that creative vibrant images in the minds of the readers.

I worked for 25 years in a variety of ministry positions:  associate pastor with responsibilities for youth and education; street minister; new church start pastor; education specialist with a partner denomination in Ghana; senior pastor.  Each time I interviewed for a new ministry opportunity, invariably, someone asked, “Tell us about your call.”  Folks want to get a sense that God was involved in the decision somehow.

I had no difficulty answering the question.  What I struggled with was telling the story with passion and enthusiasm – I knew it so well.  I was named Timothy and not just Tim because my maternal grandmother said it would sound better if I were to grow up and be a minister.  I remember playing “preacher” as a child:  I lined up pots and pans and lids and stuffed animals on the kitchen floor and preached to them;  I poured a cup of water over my high chair and said something to baptize it.

At the encouragement of my great Aunt Ruth, I learned the birth narratives from Matthew and Luke when I was in second grade and I would repeat them for her and for any visitors we had in our home during December.  Each time Aunt Ruth heard me recite the stories, she would say, “I’m sure you are going to grow up to be a minister.”

I continued with more stories and experiences from my childhood and youth that demonstrated that I was “called to ministry.”  My answer always satisfied the questioner and the committee.  Then I would ask the committee, “Tell me about your calls to be . . .”  Whatever their occupations were, I asked to hear the story of call to that occupation.  Surprise gripped the faces of those individuals to whom I directed the question, then came nervous laughter.

To ease the unease in the room, I explained my challenging question.  I believe we are all called to whatever occupation it is that we have.  Sometimes we are not as clear concerning that call as we might want to be.  We take a job because we need a job, we need the income. We like the work.  But I truly believe that God calls us all to specific jobs.   Clergy (regardless of faith or denomination or affiliation) are not the only ones called to their profession.  God calls each of us to identify that job or career that best suits us and enables us to be the best contributor that we can be to all of creation.

So it is that I believe God calls us to write . . . not necessarily as our profession but as something that we need to do in order to feel whole.  Let me share you another story from my life journey.

Over 40 years ago, as a freshman in college, I declared my intention to go “in care” which is the church term for wanting to enter ministry and undergo all the appropriate studies and procedures.  In response to my declaration, Jim Liebnow, associate pastor of the church I attended in my home town, sent me a small vellum document with words written by Peter Marshall, former chaplain of the U.S. Senate, printed on it.  I still have that paper.  It has yellowed with age.  Given that Peter Marshall was Senate chaplain from 1947 – 1949, his words are what we call “non inclusive” language.  Usually I make such writings inclusive; however, I ask your patience as I share Marshall’s words exactly as he wrote them:

By what right does a man stand before his fellow believers Bible in hand, and claim their attention? . . . Because he is obeying a “tap on the shoulder.”  Because God has whispered him in the ear and conscripted him for the glorious company of those voices crying in the wilderness of life.

The preacher is conscious of being called, as we say, and that means that he is responding to an inward urge that could not be resisted . . . an urge that grew into a conviction that only by obeying could he ever find that joy and satisfaction of a life lived according to the plan of God.

This is an article on writing.  Why do I quote stuff about religion and ministry?  Because Marshall’s words came to me as I pondered my journey into writing.  I realized that Marshall’s words still speak to me yet in a different discipline.  I audaciously believe that they speak to you as well.  Try this on for size:

By what right does anyone stand before his or her friends and peers, pen and paper in hand, and claim their attention? . . . Because that individual is obeying a “tap on the shoulder.”  Because God has whispered him, has whispered her in the ear and conscripted that one for the glorious company of those voices crying in the wilderness of life that give new perspective to ancient truths or emerging realities.

The writer is conscious of being called, . . . and that means that the writer is responding to an inward urge that could not be resisted . . . an urge that grew into a conviction that only by obeying could she or he ever find that joy and satisfaction of a life lived according to the call of God, the call of Spirit.

My sense is those words speak to you, the reader, regardless of where you are in your writing journey.  Perhaps you haven’t actually written anything . . . at least for publication – yet.  Maybe you haven’t even begun to write if only for yourself – yet. Or you have been writing, journaling, working on that book for a long time. Regardless of where you are, you know there is this inner churning or burning or gnawing – an energy that persists and calls you to write.

Maybe you hold feelings similar to those of the prophet Jeremiah.  God had called Jeremiah to speak God’s word of judgment upon a wayward people.  Jeremiah spoke as given direction from God.  But people laughed at him for having the audacity to claim that he spoke God’s word.  Listen to Jeremiah’s complaint:  “O Lord, if I say, ‘I will not mention God’s name or speak any more in God’s name,’ there is in my heat as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.”

Maybe you  have tried to ignore the inner burning to write.  Who am I?  Who are you? Who are we to write?  Who are we not to write?

We share that common yearning.  For some the yearning manifests itself in an inner desire to be published, to become famous, to be the next (insert your favorite best selling author’s name here).  For now though we’d just like to write and have the writing make sense, sound good, appeal to someone.  And so we write. We dare to express ourselves through the written word.

Tim Morrison, Write-Choice Services, Inc copyright 2009

Not to be reproduced without expressed written consent from Tim Morrison or Write-Choice Services, Inc.