where a woman can build her strength and freedom

Are you a writer…but haven’t heard your calling yet?

A writer can be a lamp that can give light to others. In the photo is a lit candle that glows bright golden from within a lovely lantern silhouetted against a softly colored dusk.

Well, maybe today is the day.
Maybe you are a writer who doesn’t know you are a writer
and all you need is someone to get you thinking you might be…
so you can hear your calling when it comes!

Sometimes all it takes is a good question…

So let me phone you up right now
and ask you some good questions
that may clue you in
that you are a writer.

If you haven’t heard your calling because no one has called,
here I come…
Ring…ring…ring…
Hello, golden reader…

Let me ask you this:
Do you love words?
Do words reach your heart?
Do you remember words that move you?
Do you keep the words people write to you?
Do you pour your heart into choosing the words you write back?
Do you need more than a brief text to express yourself fully?

Do you love books?
Do you have treasured books you keep near you?
Do you have treasured writers you love and admire?
Do you read about their lives, their homes, their writing rooms?
Do you wish you had the gift to write the way they do?
Do you wish you could reach and inspire others the way they do?

Do you need a lot of time alone?
Do you spend a lot of time in deep thought?
Do you love to be at your desk in your own room?
Do you prefer to think and read rather than to watch TV or go out?
Do you write down your ideas, feelings and inspirations in notes or journals?
Does it make you happy to discover a new understanding of life?

Do you love to listen and observe?
Are you sensitive and aware of the human beings around you?
Do you love to sit and people watch, noticing how couples and families interact?
Do you listen deeply and with compassion when a person speaks to you?
Are children drawn to you because you perceive and value and enjoy them?
Do you find life fascinating in all its dimensions?

A late blooming boomer

My answer to all the above questions is Yes,
but it took me many years to read the writing on the wall.
I grew up in a family of writers and poets.
All the signs in me were there from the git go
yet I didn’t hear the call for a long, long time.

Two people tried to tell me I’m a writer.
A fellow psychologist at the psychiatric hospital I was working in
took me aside, closed her eyes and said to me:
Deborah, you are an artist with the written word.
I fold my hands and pray that you will hear your calling.”

Some years later, the manager of the Ralph Lauren boutique near Washington, DC,
where I was working as a high fashion stylist,
took me aside and said:
Deborah, you are very talented at what you do here.
But you don’t belong here. You are a writer!”

I still didn’t hear the call until the attacks of September 11, 2001
shook me to the core.
I have to find a way to respond to this assault on free civilization.
I have to summon the best I have to offer, I remember thinking.

I spent many years trying to figure out what I could actually do
that could make a difference.
I eventually decided to write material that would strengthen the young
and immunize them against extremist ideas.

My goal would be to build up serious young people
to grow up strong and brave and free,
so they can contribute their gifts to the world.

So let’s talk more about you

I surely hope that if you hear the call today to become a writer
it won’t take YOU so long to pick up your pen. 🙂
All I can tell you, though, is it will happen when you are ready.
If being a writer is who you are, it’s your destiny.

You may need to do many other things along the way
for income or for other reasons,
but only writing will ultimately fulfill your writer’s soul.
If you are a writer you have light inside you
that you need to share.

A possible path

Are you familiar with Substack?
If you are, you may be reading and commenting on other people’s writing.
Maybe you have subscribed to a number of excellent Substacks
and are part of each writer’s community.
This is a great way to learn about writing
and the many creative possibilities open to you–
fiction and non-fiction and poetry.
It is great preparation.

When you are ready,
why not graduate from primarily commenting on other people’s ideas
and create a home for your own?
You can accomplish a great deal
as a writer with your own community of readers.
You can reach a wide audience
of people who want and need to hear your voice.

Be the light

I do believe Christ was speaking
to all of us with faithful hearts and love to give
–including all potential writers–
when He said:
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a hill cannot be hid.

Nor do men light a lamp
and put it under a bushel,
but on a stand,
and it gives light to all in the house.

Maybe you have never thought of yourself
as a lamp that can give light to others.
But maybe you are.
And maybe now is your time to shine.

Dr. Hall