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How Did I Start Writing?

Sharing the process is key ... or so I've heard.


Because I didn't set out to write a book, but that's the trajectory I'm now on, I can only offer the simple truth about my process.


The journey began with pen and paper.



And a question.


I have taken notes in classes and on Sunday mornings while listening to pastors speak since I was a teenager. It has been my way of "paying attention".


Back in 2014, the church I attended was doing a series on Story—looking at God's way of taking lives filled with small successes and significant failures and creating masterpieces. Additionally, I was in the thick of mothering young children, and one of the ways I maintained my sanity was through a weekly meet-up in my house with friends in the same stage of life as me. We would read a book together and reflect on the chapters we had read throughout the previous week, or we would listen to a sermon (ah, before they were known as podcasts!) and share what resonated with us. One of the challenges that kept rearing its head for me was to begin journaling.


That wasn't a comfortable habit for me because my preference is bent towards numbers, and I have balked at writing for most of my life--short stories and poetry in grade school, essays for high school English class, and even my thesis for university. These were assignments that stressed me out. So, willingly taking up pen to paper to process my thoughts at the time seemed foreign.


And you should also know that I don't back down from challenges.


Thus was the setup for my following year.


As I committed to putting pen to paper every evening before I went to sleep, I also committed to re-reading those words once a month. What I discovered month after month was that the same words kept appearing—they were about my struggle to be a good friend to those in my social circle experiencing infertility.


Why?


This glorious question. I get stuck on it a lot.


As I mulled over and prayed and continued to journal and read the same words over and over, I realized a quest was beginning to form.


What does God, through the Bible, say about infertility?


I believe the Bible is Truth to live by, so I could surely find clues about how to be a good friend to those suffering around me.


Questions can be unsettling to many, but I happen to enjoy swimming in the uncertainty because there's learning to be had. I love learning, even if it means change and challenge.


And that is how the writing began.

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