The Recursive Nature of Writing and Life

I remember teaching certain principles of writing to my community college students in essay writing classes thirty years ago. Here are three of them:

1. Writing is a recursive process.
2. Good writing requires re-writing.
3. Stop and submit.                                                                                                                                                                             Of course, a number of  points belong between the first and third above. As obvious as these three principles are, they can be difficult and frustrating to follow. With my book I’m currently finalizing for publication yet this year, I’m having trouble getting to the third because I’m in the muck with numbers one and two!

Life is like the recursive nature of writing. (Maybe it’s like all three principles.) Let me explain the three points, my experience, and my current situation.

Three Principles of Writing:

The first principle is a reality check. The second one is another reality check. The third is the point of surrender. All three promote humility and prayer. “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!”

Writing is a recursive process. In the drafting process, you get an idea on paper. You move forward with the idea and then back in a circular, but forward moving trajectory. Yes, you feel like you are going in circles, because you probably are, as you crystalize a concept, a description, or an argument. This stage can be puzzling, intriguing, and demanding.

Good writing requires re-writing.  In the moving of a draft to a final draft, you’ll need to do some re-writing or revising. That’s just the nature of writing. When you write, even if you’ve first outlined the big picture and flow, you are painting the parts, the specifics. When you re-write, you study the relationship of the parts to the whole and see how they are working together. Aha! You see your work in a new light and then  you revise and polish the work, view it all again, and revise some more. There are more points than these three, but they are not part of this focus. At some point, you have to do the following:

Stop and submit. For many students, no emphasis was needed here. They were happy to stop and submit with the least amount of revision involved.  However, some serious students needed to hear this. After so much revision and editing, you do have to surrender and submit what you have. Perfection is not an option. Do what you can with the time you have.

I’ve observed that life is like this recursive process. I learn a lesson, move forward in it and then backward, needing to learn basically the same lesson but in a deeper, more transformative way. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” is a recursive lesson. I’m never done with this, but the circles are advancing toward the beautiful goal.

Such is my experience in finishing my book this year. I completed four drafts, and then I submitted the last one to my publisher. I was very encouraged by the editor’s response to my submission and proceeded with the issues to be addressed.

I’ve rewritten the first page of my introduction five times. Which shall I use? We’ve combined two chapters, moved a chapter, re-labeled chapter divisions, and such.

After visiting yesterday with another “beta reader” (a reader who gives feedback), I feel that I should re-work the whole book and make it a textbook and not a Bible study (workbook style) as it presently is.  I’m not a lady’s Bible study book writer. There are many good writers of this genre out there. I’m not trying to be like them. I’m thinking that largely text, with some charts and side bar quotations, will be cleaner and easier for the reader. ( I always advise marking up a text even if it is not set up like a Bible study.)

This morning I wrote an introduction for the textbook version, but as I looked through my chapters, I just could not see how to proceed. I need prayer. I need God’s anointing. I must get this done. I cannot give up. I’ve invested much of the last twelve years in thought, study, and writing on the theological and practical issues of human suffering and joy.  It is my baton to pass on, even if few find it interesting or helpful.

There are so many other issues I’d like to write about here on this blog, but getting this book finalized must be my current focus. Thank you for holding me up in prayer. I know part of this is spiritual warfare. This is not about me but about responsibly passing on the batons God has given me.

Let me change metaphors. In and out of tune, we are echoes of our Creator.  Others hear our ancient tones. Ours join with theirs, and time escorts the sound to the next generation. We are not responsible for what they do with them but for passing to them the good heritage and wisdom given to us. And then we ascend to the Lord. He holds all things together, and His kingdom is coming.

Let me return our thoughts to the recursive nature of writing and life. The recursive process of this life is a forward motion that will conclude. Life’s roaring hubbub will stop, and all creation will submit, knees bowed, to our King.

“Lord, we are grateful! Have mercy on us and give us abundant grace.”