Writing As Therapy: Preserving My Story and Yours

I’ve always enjoyed writing. And even talking about writing.

There’s a certain romance there.

The imagined luxury of a recluse sitting in a plush velvet chair, scribbling hand written notes onto pieces of mismatched scratch paper littered around an old-fashioned desk.

Writing is an indulgence.

But it’s also an exercise.

Deep down, I believe it’s important for each of us to wrestle the most important lessons of our lives to expression.

There’s many ways that can happen. But writing happens to be one of the best in my opinion. It’s a practical tool to sort out these thoughts, to bring some concreteness to our learnings.

The learning of writing, in and of itself, even if no one ever reads it, is incredibly valuable.

It’s a personal development exercise, a spiritual disciple, therapy.

And beyond that, writing has untold potential as shareable story–as a vessel that transfers meaning and learning to others who are hungry for something beyond their own personal experience.

This is why ever since I published my first front page article almost 18 years ago, and especially since I wrote my first book 8 years ago (which was published in 2006), I’ve tithed some of my energy to helping advance the writing of others.

Sometimes, when I’m talking to a person, I sense that bright white burn of God moving something inside of them. I buy their conviction that they must do something with it. And I want…almost need them to do something with it…because I can’t bare the thought of good passion going dormant.

I have never seen writing competitively.

Even though, technically speaking, one book might compete for another in shelf space (or digital rankings), the world, by it’s nature, has room for all our stories.

If your story brings God in you to the surface, if it awakens God in someone else, then it’s my story too.

And if you write the book, the stirrings of God advance.

A win for you is a win for me.

This is why I started a free, online writing community. And why now, I’ve made the decision to form a separate writing website to divide the aspiring writer traffic from my personal blog.

But aren’t you the writer and writing-lover who writes it all? Doesn’t it belong on your blog? You ask. Or maybe, if you’re more practical, don’t you want the increased website hits?

Maybe.

But I think what belongs here on my website isn’t a resource, but a story. The story of where my life is and where it is going, and more importantly, how it intersects with the lives of many other inspiring people and groups.

The story whose beginnings are captured in my second and so far favorite book, Picking Dandelions: A Search for Eden Among Life’s Weeds.

Lately, my writing journey has taken me into some topics that are settled deep in my soul–community, brotherhood, camaraderie, connectedness.

That is my daily journey and what deserves it’s place here on this website.

I’ll still talk about my not-so-glamorous life as a writer here on my personal blog, but in the coming weeks, I’ll be introducing a website to give the writing resources a life of their own elsewhere.

I welcome you to visit me at either or both places.

And I welcome you to write your story and preserve your journey in some way too.