#FeatureFriday: Jordan Raynor Is Called To Create

If you were here last year for the series about my experiences in the University of Iowa’s online writing workshop, then you know how stressful fiction writing can for me, even though (or probably because) I actually want to pursue it as a full-time vocation someday (whenever I work up the courage to just go for it, already!) In addition to the typical “insecure writer” problems relating to whether anyone will like my work or want to spend their money on it, I’ve also worried about whether this dream is “Christian” enough. Like any good Child of God, I want whatever I do to please Him and point people to Him. I don’t want to just write because I can put words together nicely. I want them to matter. And since I don’t want to write only Christian fiction, how does that even work?

Whenever I’m struggling with something, I always try to turn to the Bible for some answers. Actually, more accurately, I turn to the YouVersion app to look for reading plans related to my issue, which leads me back to the Bible, so same thing. 😊 In June, I found a plan entitled C.S. Lewis and the Call to Create, and it gave me some things to think about. It also led me to the organisation that provided the plan, Called to Create. I signed up for the weekly devotionals, pre-ordered the forthcoming book of the same name, and I’ve just been consuming pretty much everything they post on social media since then.

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Tales From My IWP Writers Workshop – It Is Finished!

Finished. Done. Finito. Acabado. Terminé. Fertig. Ti pari. Päättynyt. (That last one is apparently ‘finished’ in Finnish, according to Google Translate. I’m hilarious. Hahaha!) My writing course, the University of Iowa’s How Writers Write Fiction 2016: Storied Women, ended on Tuesday at 12:59AM, and I made it out alive! After three weeks of zero ideas and sucky drafts that had to be sent to the electronic version of ‘file 13,’ I was concerned that I’d end up punking out of the five-week course after only submitting three assignments. But I powered through the last 36 hours and wrote not one, but two stories—a total of 4,457 words. I wrote five stories over the course of five weeks, y’all! That’s 12,540 words—the most I’ve written since I was in third form and attempting to write the next best thing in teen romance, Sweet Valley High style. I #didthat! And then I slept practically all day Tuesday.

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Course closed @ 12:59AM. Me @ 1:00AM.

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Tales From My IWP Writers Workshop – On Delinquency, Or When Your Muse Goes MIA

I’m now officially three weeks behind in my writing for the University of Iowa’s How Writers Write Fiction 2016: Storied Women course. I’ve spent the past two weeks cycling through various stages of panic, as the final ‘lecture’ will be posted this week, then the course closes on the 21st at midnight. Which means I have one week to churn out three assignments. Well, two, since I’m now waist deep into assignment three, finally.

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HELP ME!!!!

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Tales From My IWP Writers Workshop – On My Character’s Desire And My Insecurity

I’m now officially three weeks into the University of Iowa’s How Writers Write Fiction 2016: Storied Women course, but I’m a few days behind as I just submitted my second assignment this morning. The focus of week two was desire and point of view. The task was to establish a female character who experiences a strong desire, who acts on said desire, but may or may not get what she wants. The point of view used in the narration should be picked based on which one best articulates the character’s desire, and the things she thinks/feels/experiences in acting on it.

My Desire is to not look like this every time I have to write something. #writersblock
My Desire is to not look like this every time I have to write something. #writersblock

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Tales From My IWP Writers Workshop – In Search Of My Inner Child

I recently signed up for a free online creative writing workshop being offered by the University of Iowa called How Writers Write Fiction 2016: Storied Women. (It started on October 11 and ends November 21, but you can still sign up and see what you can accomplish.) The University of Iowa has one of the top rated creative writing MFA programmes in North America, so when my friend Janeth tagged me on their Facebook page, I signed up so fast my fingers were smoking.

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Live footage of me signing up for the workshop

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#FeatureFriday: Meet Janeth Benjamin, Author Of Bloom By 30

If you’ve read my first post, you will remember that I credited three sources of inspiration for my return to the blogosphere – Luvvie, my favourite blogger; Amelia, a fictional character in a romance novel; and my friend Janeth Benjamin, who took the bull by the horns and self-published a book. I also promised that she’d be the first person I featured in what I hope to be monthly interviews or profiles with some of the cool, interesting and enterprising people I know. So, here goes:

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How Luvvie, A Romance Novel & A Friend Helped Inspire Me to Blog Again

As I indicated in my bio, I’ve been blogging on and off for more than seven years. I have tried different names and different platforms, but for some reason, I just never kept up with it consistently, and ended up scrapping each blog after a few months. The one prior to this website, Write-Overthink-Rewrite, is the only thing that’s still up to bear witness.

So, here we go again. For the umpteenth time, welcome to my blog!

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