by Roseanna White
There are so many things in the writing life that we don’t get to decide, that we have no control over—chief among them being how other people react to our work, whether they’re agents, editors, or readers. We can’t control whether we get contracts or good reviews. What we can control is how we react. We decide not only what we write but who we are as writers.
One of the questions I’m asked most is “how do you find the time to do what you do?” And my answer is this: “I respect the dream.” I respect it enough to set aside time for it. I respect it enough to honor that time as sacred—because for me, it’s part of the calling God put on my life, and it’s part of how I commune with Him. I respect it enough to want to constantly improve and to give the stories on my heart the time and effort they deserve.
But something we don’t always consider is that we also have to respect our work enough to walk worthy of it—to be the author, the person, who can do it honor. We have to walk through our writing life as we’re called to walk in our faith life: with lowliness and gentleness, with patience (which can involve some suffering!), and with friends we love and whose burdens we share. We have to remember, always, that the call of writing for Him is about more than being published or making money or winning awards. It’s about becoming the people He wants us to be.
I never like to tell people how to write—but I often find myself giving advice on how to be a writer. You can always learn how to improve your craft—but while you’re doing that, don’t forget to spend just as much time refining your focus, your heart, and your reactions to be sure they’re always set on the place they should be: the Lord.
Roseanna M. White is a best-selling, Christy Award-nominated author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Known for her deep characters and suspenseful plots, she’s acclaimed by Booklist for her “mastery of Christian historical fiction.” When not writing, she’s homeschooling her two kids, serving as the managing editor for WhiteFire Publishing’s award-winning books, designing book covers, and pretending her 
house will clean itself. She loves nothing more than stories, whether fact or fiction, that shine the light of Christ into the darkness into the world. You can learn more about her author world at www.RoseannaMWhite.com and the WhiteFire Group at https://whitefire-publishing.com/read/.
Roseanna will teach two workshops “Soul Deep Characters,” “No Tears in the Writer,” and host a Live Q & A during the OCW Virtual Fall Conference on Saturday, October 24, 2020. To register, or find out more, visit our conference page.
