Category Archives: Writing

Willing to be ridiculous to obtain the miraculous, so please help

I tried posting this on LinkedIn either as a stand alone post or a profile description, but it exceeds the maximum length for either. Then I remembered that I have two blogs and so I decided to make use of them for this personal matter. The post title is an allusion to a famous quote of Mother Angelica, the Foundress of EWTN. She said, “Unless you are willing to do the ridiculous, God will not do the miraculous. When you have God, you don’t have to know everything about it; you just do it.” This kind of post sounds ridiculous, and proper people with proper concerns about proper appearances probably wouldn’t bother, but I am looking for the miraculous, and so be it. (However, I know quite a bunch about what I’m looking for, so there’s that…)

In this time of pandemic, with the relevant health concerns, (or scares, depending upon your POV) I am considering a career change. I hinted at my day job on a prior LinkedIn profile description (now edited out in favor of the current transitional one) but I would now like something different. What have I done for a living? Nice that you should ask: I am currently laid-off (due to the pandemic) from a thrift store chain where I received used goods at an outdoor remote donation center. What was a temporary job “until something better came along” has endured for over six years now. So, loyalty and perseverance are expressed character traits! I found that I actually enjoyed the work, hard as it was at times given the need to work in all types of weather and dealing with all types of individuals. I found the diversity of people and their offerings interesting, especially when they talked and told stories about themselves or their goods. I’d often wonder about the history of unusual or odd donations. Also, during periods in between receiving and sorting/stocking duties I found plenty of time to read and think, which assisted my enduring for 6 years. I even got a great idea for a novel which I have been puttering with.

My company is considering reopening next week (June 1st) in an upcoming “Phase.” Although I do welcome the opportunity to return, I have also enjoyed staying safe at home these past few months. I have health concerns which render me susceptible to COVID-19, although my health care professionals think I’ll survive. But given the impermanence of unemployment insurance, generous though it is, work is a need for personal dignity, economic sustainability and independence. I find myself wanting something that can make better use of my past professional, academic and general life-skills. And thus I am pursuing a career-change. I am seeking a remote (telework, “work-at-home”) position in what might variously be called “content creation,” or “freelance copywriting” or “copyediting,” in other words, you have a site or product that needs words, well, I got loads of ’em and I know how to use them, too! Another position that I would be interested in is chat-based customer service. After completing training on your company’s products and services and assimilating appropriate knowledge, I can serve customers who have issues and problems in a chat interface. (I prefer the written word to the spoken.) I use a Mac, hopefully this is not an impediment to any proprietary software.

If you’re interested, or have job leads, or even advice and prayers, please email me at the addresses found here: MY CONTACT INFO. You can also reach me through LinkedIn; my profile is Paul Sofranko on LinkedIn. The “About Me” page on my busier blog tells much. I am diligent, loyal, and possess a great work ethic. Salary is negotiable, I’d prefer flexible hours, or if fixed hours, then afternoons through evenings (i.e. “second shift.”) I am looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you for considering me, I do appreciate any interest.

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

The development of an antagonist

This is one example of how a person may become an ‘antagonist’ in fiction. While it is easy to create bad people who are just evil, it is more realistic to show how root causes have driven them to be who they are. All of which could have been avoided. Perhaps they can be redeemed.

This is drawn from a personal trauma, although some elements in it are speculative or conjectural.

There are two people, Person A and B. PA also has accomplices or people sympathetic, but PA is the ringleader. PB is mostly alone.

PA and accomplices had screwed over PB to the point of driving him to consider suicide. PB is figuratively broken, bruised, bloodied and wounded and is left aside. He is left to wondering “Why?”

This had poured salt into a wound created years before when PA grievously harmed PB with unjust accusations. PB had been wondering “Why?” about that ever since; this new event just made things worse, hence the consideration of suicide. PB’s discovery through one of PA’s accomplices that PA doesn’t even remember this older event just adds salt to the wound.

The “Whys?” were never addressed. PB never gets answers. PA, et al., have moved on from the event and put it behind them; after all, they were the antagonists and know the “Whys?” (if there were any) and have dealt with whatever they need to. Not so with PB. For him, hurt and pain continue and become an integral part of existence. Without understanding the “Whys?” PB never fully recovers and is changed for the worse.

PB struggles with things and tries to relate best with the reality about him but feels alone as no one really stood up and defended him during the events; and afterward others are uncomfortable or indifferent; as such he trusts others little and presumes bad motives. He tried to defend himself during the horrors, but was out gunned and outnumbered. PB also had a weak and vulnerable base from which to defend himself, being faced with certain survival issues at the same time.

His obsession with PA and the others (his frequent dwelling on the “Whys?” and such, and wishing it never happened or fantasizing about vengeance or at least something happening to bring about justice, and knowing that it will probably never come to pass has lead PB to become something of an antagonist himself; while wanting to be “good,” he feels he cannot risk that and needs to put himself and his feelings first.

Meanwhile, PA and the others are to all appearances “good people,” and if they discuss the events at all, it is to the disparagement of PB. As PB isn’t around to defend himself and no one else is willing to defend him, his reputation suffers. Only one side of the story gets told.

So, a combination of time leading PB to become “bad” and PA, et al., to become “good” has only worsened things for PB. PB was the victim; he never deserved the treatment. But due to powerlessness and no healing because PB never learned “Why?” has stunted PB and left him emotionally back where everything took place. And thus PB is ‘bad,’ not ‘evil’ but due to the woundedness and lack of answers leading to justice and healing, PB’s actions are difficult.

PB is not a “whiner,” nor one who touts “victimhood.” He has difficulty in “getting over it” but is one who is truly wounded and has never gotten the needed healing or justice.

The only thing that can heal PB is justice and knowledge. He has to know why the treatment was meted out almost to the point of driving him to suicide. PA and accomplices have to make amends, both psychological and emotional. Material amends would be a bonus, but PB knows that will never happen. (PB perhaps suffered some material loss in income over PB’s inability to manage and cope for a while.) At any rate, PA and the others have to make certain sacrifices to undo the harm they caused.

So, that’s it. A person is a victim of unjust action which were never redressed. The hurt party is still wounded despite time and some attempts at healing, but lingering issues prevent full healing. Hence, the pain has transformed him into an ‘antagonist.’

(This may be added to the backstory of a character in a novel I’m working on.)

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

Defending Sanity

My wife got me for Christmas an anthology of essays by G.K. Chesterton. (This isn’t really a book review as I haven’t finished the book.)

Confession: I know a bazillion people online who love GKC. Although I have several of his books, and have tried to read him, I had found them difficult to get through. I attempted “What’s Wrong with the World” and made it through a few essays. As a Distributist, I read “The Outline of Sanity”, one of the basic texts in forming the movement. That, I finished. Understood the gist of it, so what I came for I got out, but there were many references to then-contemporary English life and business I failed to grasp.

I was getting to think that if you’re a Catholic with literary pretensions, not to mention opinions on politics and economics that are contraray to the conventional, you’re “supposed to” like GKC. Sort of how you’re “supposed to” like the film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” because, well, it stars Redford and Newman, it’s a revolutionary Western and all the critics loved it. (Seriously, “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head?” In a Western? And the cowboy is riding a bike?) But I hated “Butch…” At the end I was rooting for the Bolivians.

Which doesn’t mean that I hated Chesterton. I just found the material I’ve tried (what’s that word used for when something is “hard?”) “inaccessible.” Yes, I had difficulty accessing Chesterton.

——-

No matter. The book Rosey got for me, In Defense Of Sanity The Best Essays of G.K. Chesterton, is different. I am quite hooked. Perhaps you can’t just start with “any” GKC book. Perhaps you have to start somewhere that I hadn’t.

But I’m loving the experience. Chesterton has a manner of developing his point, which seems to typically involve a roundabout way of getting to. Possibly because it seems he also uses an inverted way of looking at things. Not that I mind. I am finding that Chesterton can take as long as he needs to get to the point he is making and he can look at things from any perspective he chooses, I’m enjoying the ride.

It’s intriguing that you can actually make an entire essay on what you find in your pockets sound interesting.

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

A guiding light, to…where?

Tried to write a haiku that was Epiphany-inspired.

Nothing was happening.

🙁

A guiding light, leading people across endless lands… to show up in some backwater burgh to find a King to worship, only to see Him in a less-than-kingly estate.

Metaphors abound in that. The idea of a way, a passage, traveling from one place to another for a goal… resonates with me in a major fashion. (Just see my recent posts on Sober Catholic about a movie: “The Way” and Camino playlist.)

The destination being the Messiah… in humble surroundings that were base even in that era; speaks to us who prefer comfort and convenience. Do we have the endurance and desire to “go the distance” to achieve whatever is at our “destiny?”

Would we be willing to traverse the “desert?”

And what will we find there? Our preconceptions fulfilled, or a surprise?

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

getting stoned

Several years ago there was a month-long writing activity on another blog where for every day during the month of January you’d write a “small stone” which is described as “…a polished moment of paying proper attention” . The exercise was hosted here: Writing Our Way Home: small stones, a “mindful writing” blog where that link has a much longer and detailed description of “small stones” and how they impact writing.

I’ll wait a few minutes while you click on that link and read the post.

…waiting…

…still waiting…

…dang, you read slow. I’ll continue and for those who dallied over there, you’ll have to catch up.

Since that old “small stones” activity is apparently no longer (it was annual and I did participate for one year, I think it was 2011 or 2012…) I’m going to attempt it here. With two differences:

  • I won’t be calling it “Small Stones” as that name belongs to the originators of the idea (they may or may not have trademarked the term, even if they didn’t I won’t appropriate it as I think that would be rude)
  • I’m not opening it up to contributors. If you’re a writer (published or wannabe), you can do it on your own blog or social media page.

I think this is a great way to get the ol’ creative juices flowing, to blog and write daily, and to use one of my favorite reasons for writing: THERAPY. Yes, I find writing therapeutic. Since I do not (still) write as much as I ought, it proves I’m still too messed up. (Hush up, Jerry.)

I’m adding a new blogpost category for this, see “Writing bits” in the categories drop down menu on the right. That’s also a good category to use for “writing prompts, which I never took advantage of, but think I need to.

It’s exercise. If I’m “blocked,” then I can get “unblocked.” Although it is obvious my problem is discipline. So, this might help with that.

Anyway, I’m going off now to review portions of my novel-in-progress. Before I close for the night I may post my first “small stone,” or “writing bit.” I think I have somewhere the “small stones” I wrote for the exercise. If/when I find them I may repost them here.

Welcome back to those who took a long time to read stuff on that other blog. Please scroll up and pick up where you left off…

EDIT: I’ve changed my mind about this. My eyeballs were bigger than my ability to carry it out. I’m leaving the post up, albeit strikethrough’ed.

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

It was brought to my attention by a commenter…

…to the previous post Sticker Shock where I waxed existentially on my blogging efforts that I should, and I quote:

“yea, wellllllll get off fakebook and write something meaningful. Or stupid. You get the point. Do I have to have a point?”

The commenter is an aging ex-hippie jerk-of- I mean jack-of-all-online-and-some-mentionable-real-world-trades named “BroJer.” He used to blog here: BroJer’s Blog.

The dude also happens to be one of my best online friends. Scratch online. One of my best real world friends. Saying stuff like that irritates him and makes his inner child cry. 😉

He also has a point. I can’t think of anything meaningful to write now, so I’m offering this stupid post inspired by BroJer. (Incidentally, I did realize his point a while ago in Becoming antisocial. )

Miscellany:

Update on the hosting issue mentioned in “Sticker Shock”: we renewed with BlueHost for three years; based on some PayPal donations from some people who didn’t get the hint that they shouldn’t, as well as additional monies found here and there as well as from my speaking with BH customer service this morning and getting a nice discount, we felt it worth it to continue with them.

Update on the “Becoming antisocial” post: I’ve reengaged GooglePlus as I heard about the recent design changes there and discovered that I like them and find them to be useful. So, I’m basically sticking with Facebook, Awestruck and GooglePlus, but probably restricted to days off from work and writing/blogging (save for Awe which I plan to checkin with daily for a few minutes).

There! I think this was stupid enough, with a dose of self-absorption thrown in, too, for added effect!

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

Sticker shock

I am at a turning point or crossroads in my blogging. I received an email from our website’s hosting service and it was an offer to renew soon before the price goes up.

I had mistakenly assumed that the renewal option was for the price we had last paid for hosting. I was unawares that the cost had gone up to almost double.

Momentary panic-stricken fretting as to whether it’s worth to keep on doing this ensued. “This” as regarding this particular blog? Not really, as I don’t blog here much for now; the potential uses for this blog were probably mostly in the future. But my wife and I have four sites. The hosting is through BlueHost, and they offer competitive packages versus the rest and they excel at one thing: offering multiple domain names per account. This enables us to host all four of our sites through them. My primary blogging effort, Sober Catholic, is worth the cost (at least my wife thinks so 😉 ) and will thus go on. As it won’t reduce costs to quit this blog, this will continue, too.

However, the doubling of the hosting costs did bring to the forefront of my conscience one thing. How serious am I at all this? One good thing about money is that it is a great motivator. One bad thing about money is that it is a great motivator. Money is the motivator for too many things.

So as the old saying goes, “It is time to fish or cut bait.” If we are to pay the hosting fees now as well as the domain name fees later before they expire, I have to make this worthwhile. I have to use this more to justify the costs. I know I have said countless times before (mostly on Sober Catholic) about “blogging more often,” but that was a battle between myself and an inner demon, discipline. And in those battles the consequences were mostly interior ravages and self-esteem issues. But now an element from the Real World has entered the fray. Money.

I will also explore ways to “monetize” this thing. And with that goes more blogging on it as monetization efforts are pointless unless there’s activity to draw people.

The turning point. Or crossroads. Continuing to plug away.

(Donations accepted, please see the PayPal link up above. If you’re amongst the people who donated in June 2013 when we were last up for hosting renewal, you needn’t contribute again.)

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

Becoming antisocial

Time. Where does it go? Clocks tick, the days pass, and the time we have left for doing whatever we’re supposed to be doing while on Earth dwindles.

And so I’m cutting back on social media use. (Wow, that’s a hard switch from the melancholic opening…) It should have been done quite a long time ago, either excising some uses totally or being more disciplined. But, better late than never.

I’m a writer and a blogger. Not my source of income, my “day job” as it were, but what I will eventually be. (Full-time writer, living solely off writing income. Making progress, but still quite some time away…)

And social media is getting in the way. There are so many distractions….

It seems that almost every writer, published or aspiring, has a social media presence. But, some appear less than others…. Could they be… actually writing??????

I have a wife, a full-time day job, and two cats and a vegetable garden. They all require time and attention. This obviously cuts into time spent writing. So… something has to go.

I know! Social networking!!!! (Well, not all of it…)

There are writing Groups on Facebook, on LinkedIn and on Google+. Not to mention old-school discussion forums going back to the 1990s. Lots of writers writing on them. When do they actually write write, (as opposed to social write?) Maybe they’re full-timer writers, and posting away on Facebook or a forum is just their equivalent of yakking it up with colleagues during break times and lunch at a day job? Maybe they’re aspiring writers getting help, advice, commiseration or just trying to “feel like a writer” by hanging out with others.

But it ocurred to me that no real writer writing is actually getting done (well, in my house.) Some, but not enough. I mean, progress is being made on a novel, but more serious application of planning and research and such has to be made to the draft. You know, writing.

So I’ve begun limiting my time on the social nets. Google+ has largely disappeared from my social habits. Once in a great while I visit it, but mostly for a blog page I maintain, or some Communities. But even that is getting rarer. Google+ was nice, but I always felt like I had to be “cool” or “really intelligent” when on there as Plussers typically dismiss Facebook as riff-raff. Which is silly, but people tend to find a need to justify actions (i.e. not liking one thing or preferring it to something else. If your FB Timeline is full of garbage and riff-raff, that’s your fault.) And even Facebook for me has dropped off, I actually go days without using it. LinkedIn? Hah! Maybe once a week. I do make a daily habit of using Awestruck, a Catholic social network.

So, I have been strengthening the habit of writing. Every day. Not just often. Daily. At first it was just getting off of social networks. I survived that. Now to continue with daily progress of… writing. (This has been an issue with me for decades. And the struggles to do that appear here on this blog once in a while. Give me credit, except for when I was drinking, I never gave up…)

This is a follow up to a post on SoberCatholic.com, right here: The Sober Catholic Trudge Report Will No Longer Be out.

This post (“Becoming Antisocial”) has been planned for a while, but as it happens an impromptu visit to my Twitter account made me discover that I was irritating someone. Anyway, Twitter is another social network I’ve largely ignored. But I’ve been doing that for years. Why would a writer use Twitter? One hundred and forty characters? Seriously? How can a writer limit themselves to that??????

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

working habits

In working on my novel, I have discovered that I have odd working habits. Not that they are getting in the way of progress, but it’s interesting to observe in myself. 😉 I’m sharing this only because I want to, and you can extract whatever value you can, especially as I’m not a published novelist yet; you should really pay more attention to the work habits of the successfully published ones. But this stuff “works for me” and has kept me from “giving up” on this particular work.

For example, I don’t outline beforehand. I outline after every few dozen pages or so to map where I’ve been and I outline the next several scenes. Otherwise the novel is all in my head and pours out in some manner.

I do keep a separate bulleted list of plotlines, just to keep track of all the disparate action and so that I don’t fall into the rookie novelist’s trap of forgetting to resolve a plot. This is also helping me to direct a convergence of many of them into a epic scene where the novel “finally gets going” in the minds of the millions of readers who will buy the book. 😉

I employ a heavy use of LibreOffice’s highlighting function to color-code ideas in these outlines and lists. I use LibreOffice for everything in writing; I don’t bother with commercial novel writing software or other fancy pieces of software like mindmapping and wikis and such that other writers report using to their great profit. I prefer to keep it simple (albeit messy) in a software that works equally well across operating systems (I use Mac OS X and Linux). I think I’m replicating what I would have used “back in the day” when typewriters and legal pads and notebooks –  the paper kind – were all the rage.

And recently I’ve sidestepped making actual progress on the draft by also doing something backwards: I am now writing up a backstory, actually a biography, of a character who is turning into a pivotal protagonist. In doing so I am also fleshing out ideas for the novel, giving it some meat for certain scenes I’ve already written and will be writing. From what I gather, many writers do much of this sort of thing beforehand. To me, it’s like a cross-pollination. I am developing new ideas for the character, while also incorporating ideas already used into the biography; it’s a synthesis of material.

It’s an interesting exploration of how i’m crafting this work.

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

St. Onesimus

There are probably a million times more aspiring writers than there are actual perspiring (working) writers.

The reasons why people want to write but don’t or haven’t is probably an even larger number. I know, my own reasons for not being published until I was 49 are long.

Many times in my reading of articles on writing and chapters in books about the “writing life,” I find that procrastination is a common trait amongst writers. Some go through elaborate rituals before they type the first word.

If we were rational, we’d just give it up after a fashion, recognize that “wanting to be a writer” is an elaborate self-deception that masks a lack of willingness to do other things. We “want to be a writer” because we fantasize about “working from home” and getting paid to daydream.

Anyway, eventually something happens and we either die unpublished or we manage to see something of ours in print. Whichever comes first.

So why is it painful? Why the long, drawn out process from “wanting to write” to actually writing and getting it done?

Is it the raw naked terror of seeing something of ours in print, out there for the world to see… and the world hates it? Bad reviews? Or just that it feels like we’re prostituting our fantasies and when they’re published, they are no longer ours?

Anyway, there’s a point to this post and I’m getting to it right now: February 16th is the Feast Day on the Catholic Church’s liturgical calendar of St. Onesimus. Who is he? From my other blog, Sober Catholic:

“In St. Paul’s Letter to Philemon, the Apostle reveals that Onesimus, a slave of Philemon who escaped, possibly with stolen property of his master’s, has been with him for some time and has been of valuable service. Onesimus has also been baptized and as such is now a brother in Christ to Paul and Philemon, as the latter is also a Christian. However Paul is convinced that due to the Christian charity that Philemon has shown in the past, he will take back Onesimus and greet him as a brother, equal in dignity and will not punish Onesimus or re-enslave him.

And so Onesimus is sent back to Philemon by Paul, with this Letter as a sort of greeting and passage.

I’ve always been intrigued by this. Imagine you’re Onesimus. You’ve been a slave. There must have been a reason why you escaped. Was Philemon cruel? Or did you just have an instinctive aversion to being considered property of another? You just saw an opportunity to leave and took it? Anyway, the punishment for escaped slaves was most likely death. Probably painful and not quick if you’re also guilty of theft. And now your new friend, whom you’ve been serving and who has treated you like an equal, a person, is sending you back to your old master. With full confidence that Philemon’s Christianity is all that is standing between you and a painful termination.

Would you want to return?

I didn’t think so. Me neither.”

OK, so you have this tremendous aversion to returning to your former master. You’d rather continue enjoying this new life of freedom. It’s safer. (At least I’m assuming he didn’t want to return to Philemon. Maybe he did with full faith and confidence, but I’m thinking he was at least a little nervous. I’m going with “tremendous aversion” or “a little nervous”, otherwise this post and my other one on Sober Catholic would be rather pointless.) But, your current mentor/friend/advisor/boss is telling you that “This is what you have to do. This is important. It’s your mission and job now to accomplish this thing.”

OK, so you have this tremendous aversion to actually physically writing your novel. Or blog post. You’d rather continue enjoying this life of wannabe writerdom. It’s safer. No bad reviews. No one illegally downloading your ebooks and depriving you of your just income. But your family/friends/Facebook writer buddies/fellow indie authors/annoying conscience are all telling you that “This is what you have to do. This is important. It’s your mission and job now to accomplish this thing.”

Now, I’m not necessarily equating writing with returning to a former owner. But writing, or the desire to, does have an enslavement-like hold on people. It’s hard to overcome. Either way, whether it’s giving up the dream or forging on ahead with creative courage.

Now, as a Catholic I believe in the intercessory power of the Saints in Heaven. That “great cloud of winesses” in Heaven that St. Paul mentions are observing us, and if God permits, can hear our wants and dreams. Since they’re closer to God than we are, we can ask them in a prayerful manner to interced for us. (If you don’t believe in this and think that people should only pray to God for intentions, then don’t bother to ask your friends or family members to “pray for you” next time you’re in a bad way. It’s the same thing.)

So, the next time you are having an aversion to actually doing some writing, just assume it’s hopeless and you can’t overcome it yourself. Just as St. Onesimus had to return to Philemon to rectify the damage done (he did steal something) but only did so at St. Paul’s urging, so too can you get over your feelings of pain or whatever and return to the actual act of writing.

Say a prayer for St. Onesimus’ intercession. Ask him for the courage to face whatever fears about writing you have.

And then get to writing!

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)