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Embracing Rest as a Writer

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Today is my first day back from a two week blogging sabbatical of sorts.

In December of 2012, I wrote and launched my first eBook. It was a big undertaking, but so rewarding. I’ve loved every part of it. It’s proven to be so helpful for so many, and I am blessed by that!

Then, in February of this year, I finished my first book and sent it in to my publisher. That was a much bigger undertaking. The deepest parts of my heart, my soul, and my story poured out in 30,000 words.

I was drained after that, emptied of words. Still, I kept blogging. But I found myself lost, my message cloudy, my voice distracted.

Embracing Rest final

After such an emotionally intense season of writing, I heard God whispering rest to me. However, I am often guilty of halfway obedience, so instead of really resting, I just cut back on the writing. Three posts a week instead of five.

Still, a cloudy message and a distracted voice.

Also? A burned out me.

It took a teary conversation with my husband for me to be able to understand what God had been asking of me. Rest. Full and complete rest.

That meant no writing, no words at all.

And I panicked.

To take a complete break would mean a serious decrease in pageviews. A drop in followers. What if people left and never came back? What if they no longer took me seriously because I took a break? What if everything I had worked for came crashing down in two weeks of silence?

In asking myself those questions, and working through my panic, I realized why I so desperately needed a break.

My focus had shifted from His message to my numbers. I had gotten caught up in followers and subscribers and pageviews and link-ups and all of the things we are “supposed to do” in order to grow our ministries.

His message got lost. My voice got lost. And if I was honest with myself, it had been a while since I had written anything of quality.

That’s not the kind of writer I want to be. That’s not the kind of Jesus-follower I want to be.

When I write, I want to write the words He gives me. I want to use my voice to say the things He wants you to hear.

I want to do it because writing for Him makes me come alive. Writing for numbers wears out my soul.

So I took a break. I let my readers know what was going on.

Their responses blew me away. Comments and emails of encouragement, promises to be there when I returned, offers to pray and lift me up.

It was so incredibly freeing. So encouraging. Such an affirmation of the rest God had called me to.

This break, it has given me time to clear my head, to process deeply, to pray about my writing and the direction God has for me. And you know what? It doesn’t look like a million link-ups and book launches and strategies for building my numbers.

It looks like honest writing, a clear message, and rest.

I’m learning that good art requires rest. Creativity is choked out by busyness. We were created for rest, called to it. If we want to be the kind of people that write words of worth, we must embrace the call to rest.

All week long, I’m writing about rest over at my blog. I’d love for you to come visit, read along, and join in the conversation. Not because I want your page views, but because I believe this is the message I’ve been given. And maybe you need to hear it, too.

How do you find rest as a writer? Do you find it a struggle to refocus on the message instead of the numbers?

Kaysee

Comments

  1. I think it is a big thing to pull back from writing and rest. But it is necessary. Sometimes we have nothing to give. We have to sit at the feet of Jesus, the Spring of Living Water, and let HIm fill us up.
    My family and I were on month long trip early this year. I had posts scheduled, and wrote a few. I couldn’t promote like I normally do. My numbers dropped drastically. But, since I’ve been back, they have been way better than ever. God will bless when we are obedient.

    • Yes, it’s all about the obedience. I love that you got to take a trip with your family for a whole month. How special!!

  2. I think I will be taking a rest in the very near future. Thank you for your encouragement today!

  3. Kayse, you are always an inspiration – whether you took a sabbatical or not! It’s no small thing to heart the message of “rest” and to actually heed it. Especially in the land of Social Media Mayhem. I look forward to the words that will emerge from your time of rest.

  5. Kayse, this is an excellent post, and frankly, it speaks to me so much about obedience and trust, even more than rest. Yes, rest can mean literally pausing intentionally, breathing deeply, slowing down, relinquishing pressures so that the weary body can replenish and rejuvenate. It can also mean spiritual rest–coming to Jesus for rest (as He bids us do in Mt. 11:28), which implies resting in Him completely by trusting Him with all outcomes. You did that, even though it was counterintuitive. Writers write, right? Yet, God told you to put the keyboard aside and rest in Him and trust His directive. And now after rest, your fingers find words that matter and minister, whereas before, they fumbled emptily. Obeying when it seems impossible or implausible is difficult, but in the end, you rested in the Lord and trusted His wisdom. I, too, rested from writing after the publication of my third book, and I tell you it wasn’t initially a resting place for me, but a wrestling place–a place where God had to wrest writing from my grasping grip. It made no earthly sense to me to put down my pen after it had taken an earlier ten-years of wrestling with God to birth the dream-book of my heart. But, in the end, I had to realize that it was really not *my* dream, but *His,* and He had a right to do with it (and me) as He pleased. Only recently, have I begun to sense that perhaps the writing rest is over, as words begin to emerge and minister at His leading. But I truly hope that my resting in Him will never cease, because, as you suggest, we hear God when we rest. And I want nothing more than to hear my Creator speak and to rest in whatever He tells me, trusting His wisdom, doing His bidding–for there is resting even in the doing if it is at His prompting. I hope that makes sense. Thank you again for an encouraging, though-provoking post, Kayse!
    Blessings on your writing and your resting,
    Lynn

    • A wrestling place, I love that. You’re so right – I can identify with that too. And I agree – rest is a lot about obedience and trust, two things I always struggle with! Thanks for your comments. 🙂

  6. One thing that I’ve learned is to just stop writing when I have nothing to say. Seems simple, perhaps, but it does grate against the instinct when everyone talks about how posting consistently is what bring readers. It may, but what is the point of bringing readers if I have nothing of value to tell them?

    And it is during those quiet moments when I hear God the most. Which is what I long for anyway.

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