Don’t you hate it when you start writing a blog post you think is going to be absolutely brilliant, and then about 5 brutal self-edits later it’s going nowhere and you don’t really remember what your point was in the first place? Ugh.

I’m trying to write a post about my husband and me re-reading the book “Love & Respect” but it just kind of keeps rambling all over the place and I can’t seem to make it behave.

Yes, writing can “misbehave”. Believe it.

Writing, to me, is practically as good as a living, breathing organism. In order for a story to really take off, it has to live. The characters and situations have to feel real, even the most outrageous situations. One of the traits I admire most in professional writers is the ability to take what would otherwise be an absolutely ridiculous situation and make it believable.

The thing about a story becoming real, too, is the characters have to take on a life of their own. I remember one day I was sort of chatting with my husband about the story I have percolating in my brain and I said “I’m mad because one of my characters decided to do such-and-such.” It’s hard to describe – it wasn’t what I was originally planning, but one day that was just where the story went and I thought “That’s what’s supposed to happen.” It was bizarre, but at the same time it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

So back to what I was originally talking about – how to make my writing “behave”? I don’t think I really can. And I don’t think I really want to. Because ultimately, I know what I write comes from God, and the day I make my writing “behave” is the day I start thinking I can do it all by myself and stop relying on God. And then whatever I write wouldn’t be for His glory, and it wouldn’t be blessed by Him.

So what I try to do when a post or a story or whatever I’m writing doesn’t behave is put it on the proverbial back burner for a while. Someday, I know the rest of it will come along and then I’ll go back to it.

Which means someday you’ll get that “Love & Respect” post. Just not today.