Tag Archives: soul

“How To Build A Writer”

If we put on ill-fitting lab coats and gathered in a dank laboratory, in order to give life to the next great writer, how would we start?

How would we build a WRITER from scratch?

What necessary parts would we need to stitch together so that our Franken-writer would do more than keep polishing the same three chapters while moaning and stomping around like there’s a rusty bolt lodged in an uncomfortable place?

We’d probably want a writer with a noggin stuffed with the type of grey matter that can remember the lessons that matter, while shoving aside the unhelpful stuff. And this build-it-yourself cranium needs to be sturdy enough to ram its way through writer’s block, have a face that looks good in author’s photos, and have a nose that can be held to the grindstone. Not to mention a mouth that knows when to open and when to stay closed.

Next we’d want to give this writer a heart. Not just any old blood-pumper either. It needs to be a heart that’s strong enough to love, and hard enough that it’s not easily broken when people don’t love back. The heart will be soaked in a strong solution of passion fluid that will keep it tender. And this heart will have room to care for the needs of readers and other writers.

Give Franken-writer a godly soul, and this prototype will keep the right priorities in the correct order, desire to follow God through thick and thin, and consider each story to be an offering to God.

At some point–and much to our disgust, perhaps–we’ll need to turn our attention to Franken-writer’s rump region, and tack on a fairly generous amount of seat-meat. It needs to be padded well enough to endure long sessions in a desk chair, yet firm enough to withstand a good, hard kick from friends and foes alike. And, yes, it will have to be able to take repeated coatings of butt-glue when Franken-writer needs to stay in the desk chair, but doesn’t “feel like” writing anymore.

And Franken-writer’s entire body will need to be covered with a thick hide that can withstand the barbs of criticism, and scrub clean with soap and water.

That’s just some of what we’ll need to give our Franken-writer. On second thought…why don’t we just concentrate on how WE can be the greatest writer WE CAN BE? After all, we have some ideas on what it takes, right?


