Carpe Diem

ACFWAdvice, Authors and writing, Distraction, Encouragement, Friends of ACFW, writing 1 Comment

By Shirley Gould

The Roman Poet Horace coined the phrase, carpe diem, seize the day. He wanted to urge someone to make the most of the present-day and give little thought to the future.

Scripture encourages the same message in Matthew 6:34 NLT

So don’t worry about tomorrow,  for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

This brings to mind an old hymn of the church that says, “I don’t know about tomorrow but I know who holds my hand.”

Seize the day! In 2020, it is hard to accomplish this among the many distractions bombarding us daily. For me, when I’m dealing with quarantine issues, loss of salary, riots, and political battles being waged daily…I want to up my Christmas decorations and let this year come to an end. But—since that isn’t possible—as writers of Christian fiction we must get back to our laptops and do our part to help people cope.

Because of today’s turmoil, people need the Christian message woven into our manuscripts to point them to the source of strength and sense of peace the Lord offers.

Our readers need to escape the stress of life and be entertained by wholesome stories with great morals and happy endings.

*We must take note of the vast array of emotions invading America and use them in our stories while showing how our characters were victorious in tough situations.

*We must let people know that working remotely is doable. We do it every day.

*We must rededicate and refocus on our writing because people are reading now—more than ever. Your book needs to be in their hands, your article in their magazines, and your devotion in the devotionals they read every day.

*We must not allow the stresses of the virus, riots, national disasters with their many challenges to hinder our creative juices from flowing.

After my husband passed, I dealt with grief by escaping into the world of my fictional characters. It was a reprieve that helped me deal with devastating loss. This chapter in each of our lives is difficult in so many ways. It is presenting challenges we have never faced and it’s stretching us as we deal with massive changes. We are grieving the loss of the status quo.

Fellow writers…we are called to bring our prose to the world, to be inspiring as we entertain our readers during tough times. I encourage you to put your work out there, promote your writing on social media, and reach the masses with your message. It is an opportune time to…seize the day!

Shirley Gould is an inspirational speaker, an African missionary, and an author. She’s the founder of Kenya’s Kids Home for Street Children, an orphanage in Kenya. Shirley has written articles and newsletters for thirty years and is presently writing Christian Fiction novels. She lives in the Nashville, Tennessee area.

 

 

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