Yay! We made it! We’ve reached the final chapter in our online discussion of this delightful and practical resource, On Being a Writer: 12 Simple Habits for a Writing Life that Lasts.

Click here for a summary of our discussion, including links to the first eleven chapters.

HUGE thanks to all of YOU for your involvement in this group! It’s been such a delight to interact with you at this level, to wrestle through the questions together, and to strive toward better habits in our writing lives.

And huge thanks to co-authors Ann Kroeker and Charity Singleton Craig, for writing this wonderful resource, for compiling these helpful videos for each chapter, and for joining us in the comments and on social media!

Here is our final video from Ann and Charity:

“Sometimes the writing life itself puts limits on us; sometimes we have to limit the rest of our lives in order to be able to write.” ~ Charity Singleton Craig

As Charity explains in the video, “We have to determine what we have to back away from in order to continue to live the writing life.”

What does this look like for you?

[Tweet “How do you live within the limits of the writing life?”]

I suppose half the battle is actually acknowledging and admitting that we have limits. I tend to err toward the “I can do it all” mentality — but inevitably, at least one area suffers. If I’m homeschooling and writing, the house is not clean. If the house is clean and we finished homeschooling for the day, I didn’t get time to write. You get the picture.

By default, there are limited hours in the day. This is God’s design. He does this, in part, to help us recognize our frailty and our complete dependence upon Him.

“Because we have only a certain amount of time, resources, and energy, we limit ourselves to make room for mastery.” ~ Charity Singleton Craig

Another challenge for me personally goes back to placing enough value on the writing life to give it space in my schedule. Is it worthwhile enough that I would decline a lunch invitation with a friend? Would I skip an event to have more time to write?

These are personal questions that must be asked, and possibly answered differently depending on the circumstances. Either way, the writing life has to be viewed as important, otherwise we’ll never give it the space it requires.

Here’s one final encouragement from Ann, and I echo her sentiments. I hope this has been true for you as a result of this six-week discussion:

[Tweet “”No matter where you’re at in your writing life, you can take it to the next level.” ~ @annkroeker”]

For our final link-up and discussion in the comments, consider some of these questions and topics:

What do you need to limit in order to have a fruitful writing life? 

How can you better balance your writing life with your other responsibilities? 

What are some activities you can cut from your daily routine in order to have more time to focus on your writing life? 

Do you feel like you’re wearing too many hats, or trying to juggle too many balls? What changes can you make in order to make sure you’re doing at least some things well, to the glory of God? 

Before we finish, I’d love to hear what your favorite chapter has been, or maybe one or two highlights you’ve taken away from this discussion? Share in the comments below!

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