Naomi Dawn Musch

It might not be what you think. The hardest thing about being a Christian writer isn't the actual writing. It isn't even finishing the manuscript. It's not the plotting or the research or the editing. In fact, the hardest thing about being a Christian writer has nothing really to do with the writing at all.

When we writers get our big ideas and a story starts screaming in our heads to be told, the feeling is almost euphoric. Like a film unwinding, or a puzzle fitting together, the pieces settle into place revealing the big 3-D picture. We create emotional havoc, turning phrases, tightening dialogue, and pruning the final result into something that can transfer that same emotional experience to readers.

But the really hard -- though always inspiring -- part of being a Christian writer are the life-lessons that always expose themselves in the process.

For some reason, it seems whenever a Christian begins writing a story, God uses it to teach the writer something about His Divine Nature. Sometimes the revelations split our hearts wide open and then He poors them full of His love. Other times, our hearts yield less easily because the lesson is painful. It can be that our hearts are chapped, cracked, dry, and He needs to massage them until they are soft again, and willing to open to His trust-worthy hands. Sometimes He squeezes and it hurts. But in the end, we learn something about ourselves, about the people in our lives, about telling a story the way He writes them on our hearts. About the greatness of His love.

That's the hardest part. And also the best.

Write on!

Book 2 -- THE RED FURY -- coming October 15, 2011!