Daily Writing Prompt

Growing up, I was fortunate to be raised in a home that encouraged my siblings to try different hobbies. My older sister was dance and sports, my younger brother was everything sports, I was the creative… and sports, ha-ha.

I also grew up in church. For a lutheran church, we were deep in the prophetic, so encouraging spiritual gifts and artistic expression through worship. My mom’s best friend painted silk flags you could dance with, and she was and still is a heavy influence on my creativity, especially in a church setting. When I struggled to take in learning, she told me to draw what was being taught, and from there it grew.

Writing came and went, it wasn’t always a constant go-to, but when I would write, there were multiple attempts at writing a book, and the immediate self-criticism that came with it that resulted in tearing everything up.

Once I purchased my first MacBook Pro toward the end of high school, we were really movin’ and a-shakin’ with how often I would write. I stopped sharing it with others, though. I realized that writing was mine and the moment I shared it with others, negative self-talk came forward. So I needed to just keep writing and working through editing on my own, and maybe when I get older I would develop a better outlook on sharing my writing with others.

Even as a thirty-something now, the writings I do keep are my journal, a book that I come back to every now and then to keep building, and the writings I do in my artist journals. My artist journals are a person’s story. I know people who have a ton of them, and so far I have three. The third volume I did, I dove into writing more, trying poetry and pairing it with an art page.

I love writing for the same reasons to love doing traditional art. You can write for whatever reasons you want: educational gain, discussion, emotional release, monetary value, connecting with others, spiritual growth.

I love that writing is another way to spend time with my God. Being able to write a wedding speech to officiate was a rush because besides the obvious task of legally allowing a couple to get married, I am tasked with giving a message of love, friendship, and a blessing over people I care about, which for a person with the love language of gift giving, is a great freakin’ gift. To write wisdom, encouragement, and truth is the best feeling, and I feel like this is something everyone can agree upon. I will be officiating my best friend’s wedding next year, and she is the opposite of me in at least the area of faith, so that will be my first challenge as a writer to be able to convey the same message of love in the highest form and what that is to us. Her and I agree though that to write with the intent of imparting sound wisdom, encouragement, and a universal truth is something you can give and receive from multiple sources.

I’m going to be transparent and say that I don’t write as often as I maybe want. Reading, writing, and doing various art mediums have usually taken turns in a bingeing season, but since COVID it seems that reading has just been this continuous thing. My quest for knowledge if you will. Writing has been in the form of notes. Even so, to be passionate about writing as I am with little production, I can’t imagine how passionate you must be if you’re are writing All. The. Time. I applaud you!