Balance

Hi. I’m Debbie Sprinkle and I’m an author. If that sounds like the beginning of an AA meeting, there’s good reason. It’s because authors don’t just write, they’re addicted to writing. Ask their friends or the people who live with them.

Sure, many writers talk about treating it like a job. How they produce a set number of words or pages a day. Some work for a prescribed number of hours.

What they don’t tell you is when you’re not writing, you’re thinking about writing. Your storyline is always in the back of your mind. Something will happen during the day that excites a whole new train of thought and you’ll miss what’s being said to you. Dinner out with a spouse becomes an opportunity to get feedback on how a character would react in a given situation. Writing requires that the people closest to you be willing to get immersed in what’s going on in your latest book…because that’s where you’ll be living for a while.

I’m new to this writing thing and I can tell you if I’d started when my children were small, I would have been jailed for neglect. My husband and I would be divorced and he’d have custody. That’s how bad it is. Just kidding. But I certainly have a new respect for young authors with families.

When I’m on a roll, I don’t want to stop for anything. Luckily, I’m married to a wonderful man who brings me food at the appropriate times and even massages my neck occasionally.

I’m trying to determine my boundaries because when I look at some of histories greatest writers it didn’t always end well for them. Take O. Henry, Dylan Thomas, and Truman Capote who all died of liver disease due to alcoholism. Then there’s Ernest Hemingway. Well, you get the picture.

Just as with AA, there are meetings for authors, both local and regional. However, rather than help you deal with your addiction, the people at these meetings actually encourage you to write more! Some provide classes on improving your craft so that you can get published making sure you will become well and truly hooked.

An old adage comes to mind: Misery loves company. And yet it’s an exquisite misery. I know I must learn balance. Balance between my writing and my life. Or I must give it up—my writing I mean. Not my life.

Being a Christian writer, I have the perfect example of balance in Jesus’ life. He juggled a demanding ministry and time with his disciples with time set aside for rest and for prayer. In Mark 6:31, Jesus says, “Let’s go off to a quiet place by ourselves and rest awhile.” (New Living Translation) As for praying, according to Luke 5:16, “Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.” (NLT) But one thing shines through as we read the Gospel stories. Jesus always had time for someone else. That’s the kind of balance I want for my life.

I know I’ll always struggle with one thing or another. Today it’s balance in my life. Tomorrow it may be something totally different. But it’s okay. Every day I pray, “Each morning let me learn
more about your love
because I trust you. I come to you in prayer asking for your guidance.” (Psalm 143:8 Contemporary English Version) Guidance in my writing. Guidance in my relationships. Guidance to do Your will whatever that may be.