Why Aren't You Writing?

Why Aren’t You Writing?

by Ella Reff

            To be writers, we have to believe in ourselves. What do we have to say that others would want to read about? While Ecclesiastes kept saying there is nothing new under the sun, our own experiences are unique.  My first effort at being published besides having a poem in the school newspaper was to enter a contest sponsored by Warner Press of Anderson, Indiana. Directions were to write a spiritual autobiography of at least 20,000 words. How easy it would be to do today compared to then, with a manual typewriter. I did not win. I did not receive any critique, merely a mark on a certain page. I wondered why. But I never knew the answer.

             

            I do know that a while after that, I met a man who had his own business called Beck Publishing Company and a trademark called Silent Witness. His business was in Pandora, Ohio. Was I opening Pandora's Box to pursue my dream to publish a book? He asked me to add a couple more chapters then printed one thousand copies and took half for his use. I gave some away and sold others by speaking at retreats and placing copies in bookstores. I was twenty-nine years old. Now, I take the book off the shelf and look in it, and I reflect on how I have grown as a Christian and how the world has changed.  I had used my talent and I went on from there to write in other venues: an interview in an evangelical magazine, a how-to article in a national hobby magazine, a weekly newspaper column.

            In class I learned four reasons to write:  to inform, to entertain, to persuade, or to share vicarious experiences.  At this time, I am reflecting on the same thing: What could I say that hasn't already been said? Besides writing about my own experience, I need a unique approach. Out of all the books on the shelf, what would make mine be the one picked for purchase? I need a brainstorm list.  

As the computer sometimes says...Thinking....