Working Your Literary Muscle

I believe that everyone can write, and I believe that everyone should write.

Now, I understand that wisdom would demand that you take my opening statement with a grain of salt. After all, everyone thinks that their trade or gift should be appreciated and employed by everyone. It's the nature of man to be fully invested into that which he is most gifted in. However, let me say that my beliefs about writing would also apply to any other art or craft.

So many people look at the writings of C.S. Lewis and assume he came out of the womb with a feather quill and a scroll. Well, that's just not how it happened. He spent years writing journals and scribbling stories and idea's before he ever wrote anything worth reading. In fact, when he finally reached a place where he was worth reading, he still met with a group of other writers who greatly criticized his work and compelled him to make serious changes. The same is true for Tolkien. In fact, when they met, both of these legendary writers held pens that weren't worth a dime.

Their infamous skill with the pen and typewriter did not come from a supernatural birthing, but from many, many years of stretching their literary muscles.

They read the works of great authors and theologians, they studied the art of language, articulation and literary finesse. They pursued the advice and criticism of their fellow writers and theologians...they wrote, and wrote, and wrote...and wrote.

These eternal writers began without angelic skill or pens' of glory. They began just like you and I,

Just today, I received a call from a woman who wanted to tell me that my book changed her life and introduced her to the saving touch of God. In fact, she was the one HUNDREDTH such call. In celebration, I went into my drawers and began to pull out my beginning works. I read my old blogs and my theological ponderings; my stories and my attempted concordances. Do you want to know what I found? That my early works are not worth reading!


My theology was questionable. My writing was dismal. My language revealed me to be a neanderthal...in fact, if I had purchased those writings, even as the author I would have demanded my money back! It was that bad!

However, it encouraged me; because it means that this is not the day of my success. This is the day of my small beginnings. I will do better. I will work harder. I will write more skillfully and theorize more accurately. I will understand God and literature to a more full degree...and I will be a much better writer. Not because I am a bad writer now, but because my literary muscle is not idle. I am using it. I am stretching it. It is in constant use, even to the point of pain and exhaustion.

Friends, anyone can write. Maybe not as skillfully as C.S. Lewis or Mark Twain...but certainly as well as myself.

Whoever you are, and whatever you've been through, you have a story to tell. So write. Stretch yourself. Grow...become.

I do not advise you to run out and publish your random thoughts. I encourage you to first sit at your desk and stretch the muscles of your mind. Meditate on the depth of your life and your faith. Seek out knowledge from those who have come and conquered before you. Talk deeply, think deeply. Not to mention, and take this as the most crucial step, WRITE! Grab journal after journal and write your thoughts. Don't worry about articulation or intellectual genius. Just write.  You will find that over time, your thoughts will birth new depth and your hand will write with a natural articulation and depth. The more you write, the stronger your muscles will grow; the greater your hand will itch for a pen.

Don't be discouraged if you struggle with wanting to write. Just do it whenever you have the will to, and you will find that over time, your mind will long to express itself on paper, and your desires will shape to your will. If you want to become a writer, you must write. 

I do not claim to be an expert in this subject, being so young in it myself; but this advice is sound. I'm going to take it, and I encourage you to as well.

God bless...