"We all have different gifts, and each gift came because of the grace God gave us"
Happy Friday, all. I wanted to thank everyone who has sent me encouraging and congratulatory notes for the completion of my degree and the launch of my book.
You have no idea how much it all meant to me-- Knowing people are praying for me and reading my story gives me more joy than I can express.
Working on a masters degree was very isolating. I thought often how grateful I was that God made me a naturally introverted woman because most of this degree was completed in isolated silence.
But the hard moments like meeting pressing deadlines, juggling a full-time job while being a full-time student, mixed in with writer's block, and no one there to understand and celebrate the major and minor victories is what made this degree hard.
Even the last day of school, after I completed my final step to finish this degree, honestly felt anti-climactic. Two minutes after it ended, life went on.
I don't blame anyone; it's just different from undergrad when you're going through all the same motions with your friends, it just makes me even more grateful than I already was for the friends who messaged me, took me to coffee, and showed me how excited they were for me. This experience and sharing my writing has even helped me develop new friends, some international, who I only hope I'll get to meet someday :)
This gratitude I have inspired today's post, "How to support a writer." Do you know a writer?
It's no secret that writers are more easily looked down on. We're not curing diseases, helping heal a human body, inventing, building or designing things for the better good. Whatever kind of writing we're doing, to others we're "just... writing."
I've seen friends be brought low because of their unique God-given gift of writing, and I've experienced the comments myself that make you feel half a step away from worthless to society.
If you know a writer and are looking for ways to encourage him or her, these are some of the ideas that I came up with (or things at least that mean a lot to me).
Read their work! If nothing else, ask to read their work- whether it's public or not, ask to read it. Even knowing just one person read my writing is enough encouragement to keep going.
Give helpful and encouraging feedback. Let them know you read their work and what you liked. If they ask for feedback, be honest about your opinions. But ultimately, always try to be encouraging.
Respond in a timely manner. I'm not saying you should cancel plans to read our work, but to me, answering within 7 days is important. To me, it shows you care about me and what I do by making it a priority.
Ask question. What are you working on? Are you enjoying writing this? What are your plans for it? What is your dream for writing? Asking questions show that you care.
Celebrate them. Finishing a draft, submitting to a festival, starting a new project or getting printed or published is a big deal. Show them you care through an encouraging word, a drink, an ice cream, a cup of coffee: Any way you know your friend will feel celebrated.
Yes Hannah! This was spot on. I am a writer and cannot tell you how much it means when people give me feedback. Most of it is encouraging, but I’d also appreciate more constructive feedback. I’m not published yet but I’ve already decided: when that day comes I’ll take MYSELF out for a coffee AND pie !! Live your posts and can’t wait to read your book (it came in the mail yesterday).