February 16th, 2024

​THE WRITER’S CALENDAR OF MONTHS
  I was overjoyed as the biblical shepherd who found his lost sheep when I found my notes on Paul Karensa’s   ‘Calendar pattern’. It’s designed to plan a story plot by fitting in characters, locations, conflict, climax and resolution around the 12 months. It gave me the idea to imagine what each month offered Christian writers like us.  A kind of best fit. So here we go!!
January:  The month of New Year/ new beginning. You see yourself in a new light;  You mentally make new resolutions with God;   Life happens but,  ‘The One who calls you is faithful’  gives you resilience; Time to declutter stuff ; You begin to think of your new/existing writing projects; Put in sight your writing paraphernalia…
February: The month of Valentine. You share love and prayers to loved ones; You do your writer duties  around social media, ACW, work, family, etc; You give off time to be you but  Life happens;  ‘The Lord’s unfailing love and mercy still continue’ and strengthens you;  You plan to start goals not achieved in January;  You write ideas …
March: The month of the year’s first quarter; You reassess yourself ; You feel  imposter syndrome; The season of Spring offers a fresh start and inspiration; You work on edits, blogs, reviews, newsletters, book launches etc; Word counts begin to swell; Life happens but ‘your soul rises and praises the Lord’…
April: The month ushers Easter; You self-rebirth ; You are  inspired from the bloom of new life in nature; You introduce humour in your writing ; You write to commemorate the Easter season; Life happens in the midst of your family, work and personal stuff committments; You are reminded ‘to be of good cheer’…
May:  The month brings warmer days; Your chapters may have started or increased; Your word count may look healthy or still discouraging; You encourage yourself in the Lord for feelings of discouragement, writers block or not being on the writing board; It is proper spring; You may spring to a big or little action; ‘Peace be within you’…
June: The month that is half year; You are jolted by the Holy Spirit; ‘You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you’; You are inspired to make huge strides of progress in your writing career; You update your blogs, Get active on marketing, ACW posts, decrease your ‘to be read pile’; You enjoy success/ good news on publishing/review
July:  The month of vacations, sunshine and school holidays; You are inspired to write a romance, historical, adventure or a thriller; Your word count is healthy. You go on holidays; You are refreshed to engage in career exploits, podcasts, audio books, author interviews; You share your author skills on social media; You taste the Lord and He is sweet…
August: The month of the long hot summer; Your energy is breathing hot sparks which you pour into your writing;  You call on Him and He tells you hidden things; You may consider professional service / publishing routes; You may revisit social media /writing classes; You may go on a retreat or make a start on your writing and finally crucify procrastinations…
September:  The month of the last quarter; You have been busy with life and writing; You write despite when life happens; ‘In this world you have tribulations’; You fall seven times but rise to write;’ Those who will rebuild you are coming soon’; You have reached an impressive word count; You are encouraged…
October: The month of perfection is true for you; You ‘encourage yourself in the Lord’; You acknowledge God called you to write; You overcome  writer’s block and  imposter syndrome; You finish your draft; You begin to slow down and think of Christmas, family and life outside being a writer…
November: The month of winter; You are inspired to write for advent; You make publishing decisions; Your writing  goes on a low key; You do a cover reveal; Life happens and you say, ‘Father take this cup from me’; He says He has ‘armed you with strength for every battle’. You experience some writing miracles…
December: The month of Christmas and the year’s end; You wonder where time went; You join in the yuletide celebrations; You deserve a break; Your birthing a book[s] intoxicates you; You spoil yourself; Or was the birth wishful thinking all along? You ‘encourage yourself in the Lord’ for the new year…