Noun, I take you, Verb, to be my lawfully wedded wife.

Writers Write. These are two words that greatly impacted me a few years ago. I had been songwriting every now and then, waiting for inspiration, devoting as much time to songwriting as I did to sewing (Have you seen anything I've sewn? Me neither.) And then at a songwriting forum, one of the questions to the professionals was "How many songs do you write per year?" 

Steve Siler answered. If I remember correctly, he said during his early years as a writer he would write 100 songs a year. I remember being flabbergasted. 100 songs? That's like a song every three days!! He went on to explain that when accepted the title "Writer," he followed the discipline that Writers Write. So, every day he would write. Whether it was excellent writing or throw-away, it was valuable because under that writing he'd find his treasures.  That really stuck with me.

So, the next year, I started writing. Not just when I was inspired. But daily, or at least 4-5 times per week.  Sometimes it would be just one line that I'd stare at and ponder over. Or sometimes it'd be free-writing on a title or story-song I wanted to write.  The especially fun days were when I'd write a whole song in a session, or finish a cowrite online. I didn't write any hits (yet) that year. But it was revolutionary in my journey as a writer. So now, when I'm asked how long I've been a writer, I answer "Four years." Because although I experimented with writing for fifteen years before that, I have just recently taken the challenge of turning that noun into a verb. Writers write.

Last week we taught at a Worship Leaders' conference here. We were asked to teach two sessions: Songwriting 101 (nuts and bolts) and Life Into Lyrics (how to turn your life experiences into songs that impact others).  It was intimidating to teach because usually we are the ones in the seats listening to our expert Nashville clinicians at Write About Jesus.  But as I gathered notes and got some great ideas from Sue, I realized that we are all still hungry for learning more about the craft. Even some of the tidbits of wisdom Sue shared, she commented things like "Chad Cates said ____. I love that!"  So passing on the wisdom and roadmaps for worship songs was sure a lot of fun. Our attendees were excited to learn and I think their lightbulbs were illuminating at the advice of "Writers Write." And "Worshippers Worship" and the list could go on. 

So here's the challenge of the day. Are your nouns also verbs? Are you a parent? Parent. Are you a singer? Sing. Are you a worker? Work. Are you a Painter? Paint. Are you a believer? Believe!  For me, I write, and then I am inspired in every day life. If I wait for life to inspire me to write, I can miss a lot of the simple messages that need to be written.

And now for confession time.... Bloggers Blog. I've been a horrible blogger! It must be the sunshine (I'm a gardener now, too. Who knew?!) and the closet full of things to put on craigslist and the ongoing toddler adventures and the piano waiting to be played.  I do want to get back on the blog train, but I will shamelessly define "blog" (the verb) as: Occasionally posting, such as once per week.

There, now I feel better.  Dear readers, thank you for reading. Enjoy your week!