What do you really want as a writer?

(Take the survey to tell me about yourself in just four questions)

“Your desire is the truest thing about you.”

When a spiritual mentor told me that, at first, I gasped. I’d grown up in a religious subculture that somehow wrapped “desire” in shame. Desire was selfish, or “carnal.” It was Eve’s desire that caused the downfall of man, for heaven’s sake. (I’ve since deconstructed the messages of evangelicalism, sorting through the rocks and gems, as it were.)

Desire is not a dirty word, despite what may have been preached at you growing up. But we misunderstand desire, because we don’t dig deep enough. Below our desire for say, physical things like food or sex or stuff or success, is a desire that is deeper and truer. What we really want is belonging, or to know we’re loved. Our desire, ultimately, is for God. (Even if we don’t realize that at first.)

Photo by Kasuma: https://www.pexels.com/photo/

Which is to say, a desire to experience Love. To connect with others. (Which is in part, why we write. To make that connection.) And also to connect with God, who is Love, and dwell in the soft light of that joyful connection. We desire that profound connection, but we go about searching for it in the wrong places. It is not our desire that’s flawed, but our method of seeking it.

As C.S. Lewis wrote in his classic book The Weight of Glory:

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not to strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Photo by Ahmed akacha: https://www.pexels.com/

As writers, I think what we really want is to say or write something true, something beautiful. We want to use our creativity to express whatever is deep inside of us and allow it to touch what is deep inside of others. We want to find truth and share it. We want to write to bring others joy, but also we want to write for the sheer joy the act of creating brings us. We were created to be creators, when we create, we experience divine presence, divine love. We know that writing is a path to purpose and joy. A joy in spite of circumstances, not dependent on them.

Your desire to write is the truest thing about you. I write this newsletter to help you lean in to that desire to write. And I’d like to learn more about your writing—so I hope you’ll take just. minute or two to complete the survey linked below.

There is so much going on in the world right now; in our country in the past week. It would be easy to be worried. (Frankly, I am a little worried.) But we cannot let our fear have the upper hand. We must continue to write truth, to lean in to our desire to connect with our readers’ longing, to find our own joy and in so doing bring joy to others.

Photo by Kindel Media: https://www.pexels.com/

What do you want in the coming year, for yourself? For this little Substack community? How can I help you to grow as a writer?

I really want to hear from you. What do you hope to read about here? What topics would serve you best? Would you be so kind as to fill out this very short (2 minutes) survey?