• Menu
  • Skip to left header navigation
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Books & Such Literary Management

A full-service literary agency that focuses on books for the Christian market.

  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Books & Such
    • Our Agents
    • Our Behind-the-Scenes Staff
    • Our Travel Schedule
  • Our Authors
    • Author News
    • Collaborators and Ghostwriters
  • Submissions
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Editors Select
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Books & Such
    • Our Agents
    • Our Behind-the-Scenes Staff
    • Our Travel Schedule
  • Our Authors
    • Author News
    • Collaborators and Ghostwriters
  • Submissions
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Editors Select

Writing from a Place of Gratitude

November 27, 2022 //  by Cynthia Ruchti//  30 Comments

writing from gratitudeWhat if writers stopped writing from a place of inspiration and instead wrote from a place of gratitude?

As we turn the corner from a season marked by words like thanksgiving, thanks, grateful, Books & Such Literary Management doesn’t only want to express our gratitude for you who frequent or have stumbled upon this blog.

We’d like to also explore what it might be like to view our writing from a place of gratitude.

What if before our fingers touched the laptop keys waiting for them, we took time to fully feel and fully express our gratefulness?

 

Writing from a Place of Gratitude

  • For words and their ability to rearrange us
  • For the privilege of writing
  • For the gift of imagination
  • For the tools of our craft
  • For the authors who’ve gone before us, taught us, mentored us
  • For the ability to publish in a multitude of formats
  • For readers
  • For reviewers
  • For our support teams
  • For those who purchase books because no matter the price, it’s a bargain
  • For our agents 🙂
  • For editors, freelance and otherwise
  • For marketing teams and sales teams and art departments and warehouse fulfillment
  • For writer friends
  • For books that guide us in the craft
  • For books that inspire strength and courage
  • For retailers
  • For libraries and librarians
  • For bookmobiles and Little Free Libraries
  • For paper and ink
  • For ideas
  • For the intersection of what we have to say and what the world needs to hear
  • For The Author

You may find it beneficial to consider the above list and add to it before you begin your next writing session or season.

Or you may want to pray a prayer like this one:

Keep my fingers nimble

And my mind agile.

Fill me with wild ideas, Lord,

Then tame them for Your glory.

As I sit in my storytelling chair

Draw around me those

Longing for a good story

That will keep their souls nimble

And their minds agile

And their imaginations dancing

With wild ideas

That give You glory.

Amen.

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email

Category: Authors, Blog, Writing LifeTag: grateful, gratitude, privilege of writing, Writing

Previous Post: «writing authentically Why Writing Authentically Is so Hard
Next Post: Is There a Perfect Time to Submit? »

Reader Interactions

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Laurie Davies

    November 27, 2022 at 4:13 am

    Wild ideas that give Him glory! Oh, how I love this. ✨ Posting this—and your list—on my inspo board.

    Reply
    • Cynthia Ruchti

      November 27, 2022 at 12:26 pm

      Thanks for the encouragement, Laurie. Glad it blessed.

      Reply
  2. April P Pool

    November 27, 2022 at 5:16 am

    I love this encouragement! When I sit in the midst of gratitude, my work and my world feels expansive!

    Reply
    • Cynthia Ruchti

      November 27, 2022 at 12:27 pm

      Love the idea “expansive”!

      Reply
  3. Ginny Graham

    November 27, 2022 at 5:37 am

    Cynthia, I am so grateful for you and your mentorship in our lives! What a marvelous idea. Begin with thankfulness. Why wait until January 1st to shape our resolutions? Begin now and give Him the glory. God Bless!

    Reply
    • Cynthia Ruchti

      November 27, 2022 at 12:27 pm

      Great idea, Ginny!

      Reply
  4. Kim Janine Ligon

    November 27, 2022 at 5:49 am

    Love the prayer. Printing it out and putting it in my line of sight when I’m at the computer. Thanks for the mentoring and the food for thought! You are a blessing to me!

    Reply
    • Cynthia Ruchti

      November 27, 2022 at 12:27 pm

      I appreciate your comments, Kim.

      Reply
  5. Kristen Joy Wilks

    November 27, 2022 at 7:03 am

    Oh, Cynthia. This is so good! This morning, I am taking a moment to thank the Lord for a quiet place to read my Bible, for having an office for the first time in my life (I recently inherited a home from my grandparents), for a beautiful view of the forest and meadow, for having our 3 teen sons home just a little bit longer, for crazy ideas and the desire to tell tales, for the Great Storyteller at work in us, and for the possibility, the hope, the chance to delight children with story.

    Reply
    • Cynthia Ruchti

      November 27, 2022 at 12:28 pm

      Glorious thoughts!

      Reply
  6. Peggy Lovelace Ellis

    November 27, 2022 at 7:30 am

    Inspiring, especially with the reminder list of who and what we should be grateful for. So easy to forget some one or some thing in our busy, busy lives. The prayer covers the subject extremely well.

    Reply
    • Cynthia Ruchti

      November 27, 2022 at 12:28 pm

      Thank you, Peggy!

      Reply
  7. Deborah Farris

    November 27, 2022 at 7:52 am

    Dear Cynthia,
    You have this uncanny gift, as I sit here in my “storytelling chair”, to create the sense that you’re sitting beside me, speaking these words to save and treasure, right into my heart.
    What a gift.
    I’m printing it out.
    Thank you—
    and I am so grateful that I “stumbled” upon this blog!☺️
    Deb

    Reply
    • Cynthia Ruchti

      November 27, 2022 at 12:29 pm

      I’m grateful, too!

      Reply
  8. Janet Ann Collins

    November 27, 2022 at 6:54 pm

    I’m also thankful for writers conferences, and also for the internet that helps us learn and connect.

    Reply
    • Cynthia Ruchti

      November 28, 2022 at 7:11 am

      Ah, yes! Writers conferences and the internet!

      Reply
  9. Stephen Barber

    November 27, 2022 at 8:39 pm

    I will print this and keep it at my desk.

    Reply
    • Cynthia Ruchti

      November 28, 2022 at 7:11 am

      Grateful it is useful to you!

      Reply
  10. Andrew Budek-Schmeisser

    November 28, 2022 at 3:06 am

    I’m grateful for the ones I love,
    I’m grateful for the rain.
    I’m grateful for the sky above,
    and grateful for the pain
    that straitens life and hobbles days
    and stands me at the brink
    of the cliff, now out of ways
    to avoid the need to think
    about God and eternity,
    about the value of the Now,
    about the lack of certainty
    of my soul, and how
    I might align more to God’s will
    in the time I’m living still.

    Reply
    • Cynthia Ruchti

      November 28, 2022 at 7:12 am

      Again, beautifully said.

      Reply
  11. Laquita Dettman

    November 28, 2022 at 6:38 am

    I love this prayer poem! I’m grateful for the adventures I live through the stories he gives me, but I hope he addles my mind and still my fingers if I fail to glorify Him in the telling.

    Reply
    • Cynthia Ruchti

      November 28, 2022 at 7:12 am

      Profound, Laquita!

      Reply
  12. Wendy L Macdonald

    November 28, 2022 at 10:21 am

    Thank you, dear Cynthia. I love the post, I love the poem. There’s no better place to write than under the guidance of God and His gracious workers. I’m thankful for godly literary agencies and godly agents who help tame manuscripts and proposals for God’s glory. 🙂
    Blessings ~ Wendy Mac

    Reply
    • Cynthia Ruchti

      November 28, 2022 at 11:08 am

      Thanks for your KIND additions!

      Reply
  13. Jody Evans

    November 28, 2022 at 1:41 pm

    Thank you for this, Cynthia. It’s so easy to come to writing work with fear (What if no one likes what I write? What if I’m no good? What if I run out of ideas?) and discontentment (Why can’t I just write and not have to think about marketing and representation?). Your list takes all these thoughts captive for obedience to Christ who has told us in His Word to rejoice always, pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks.

    And then your beautiful prayer…

    I needed this today!

    Reply
    • Cynthia Ruchti

      November 28, 2022 at 1:43 pm

      Jody, what beautiful insights you added!

      Reply
  14. Gail Helgeson

    November 28, 2022 at 7:10 pm

    “For paper and ink.”
    This made me think of Jane Austen. I’m so very grateful I live in a time where I can choose to write at my computer or sit with a notebook and a ball point pen.
    I was able to write with a quill while at the Jane Austen museum. I marvel at Jane’s perseverance to have been able to write 6 novels using that “pen.”
    Imagine the smudges.
    And the gasps if she spilled the ink. (she had to make the ink too…) We’re so spoiled.
    I have no excuses.
    Thanks for the reminder.

    Reply
    • Cynthia Ruchti

      December 2, 2022 at 8:58 am

      “I have no excuses.” 🙂 What a beautiful reminder!

      Reply
  15. Jeanne Takenaka

    December 2, 2022 at 8:49 am

    Ahhhh, I needed this today. Thank you for the reminder of the power of gratitude on us, on our hearts, and on our writing. When I take the time to stop and practice gratitude, I sense the Lord’s pleasure and His nearness.

    Reply
    • Cynthia K Ruchti

      December 2, 2022 at 8:59 am

      Imagine sitting before our computers EMPOWERED by gratitude!

      Reply

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to the Blog

Privacy Policy

Awards

Top 50 Writing Blogs









Site Footer

Connect with Us

  • Books & Such
  • Janet Grant
  • Cynthia Ruchti
  • Rachel Kent
  • Wendy Lawton
  • Barb Roose
  • Debbie Alsdorf
  • Janet Grant
  • Cynthia Ruchti
  • Rachel Kent
  • Barb Roose
  • Debbie Alsdorf
  • Cynthia Ruchti
  • Wendy Lawton
  • Barb Roose
  • Debbie Alsdorf
  • Debbie Alsdorf

Copyright © 2023 Books & Such Literary Management • All Rights Reserved • Privacy Policy • Site by Design by Insight