There are those who want to leave behind a legacy. They are happy to write the family history or their memoir. In the past, our grandparents were the story tellers. They didn’t write the family history, they shared it. And we listened. Sometimes we learned life lessons from what we heard.
But today, too much of the family is split apart. Often, we learn from a short snippet we read in a magazine. Maybe an “Upper Room” devotional in the doctor’s office.
At the last conference I attended a woman I’d never met before sat across from me.
“I’ve been writing my memoir for twenty years,” she said.
For two seconds I thought I’d choke on my bite of salad—twenty years is a long time to wait to share the pain or joys of life with others.
I am encouraging my new friend to write her book. Still, there is a part of me wants to scream. I wanted to say,
“Write one article at a time. Help others now. Don’t wait. A memoir might sell if you have a giant platform on which to reach out to the masses, but what about writing for a Sunday School handout? Or shape your story into a devotional for ‘Upper Room.’”
Today I’m encouraging myself and other writers I come in contact with to remember:
Your words are nothing more than scratches on a paper until you have a reader—one who is changed because you took the time to share what God has done in your life.
Don’t Just Write Something–Submit It Without Delay..