{"id":44,"date":"2008-11-28T19:14:13","date_gmt":"2008-11-28T19:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/flirtingwithfaith\/2008\/11\/why-do-you-write.html"},"modified":"2008-11-28T19:14:13","modified_gmt":"2008-11-28T19:14:13","slug":"why-do-you-write","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2008\/11\/why-do-you-write.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Do You Write?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been thinking about Caroline’s Ferdinandsen’s post on ConversantLife.com called A\u00a0Case for a Little Spiritual Quarantine<\/a>. One line in particular has haunted me since I read it. \u00a0Caroline writes, “my Christian faith has suffered from my chronic reading, interfacing, and networking this past year.” \u00a0
\nI find this to be a chilling statement.\u00a0
\nI do not know Caroline beyond her published articles in faith-based magazines, blog posts, comments and Conversant profile. But, if this writer\/educator is finding it difficult to discern among thoughts and perspectives of the bloggers and authors out there, who else is reading books, blogs and articles and struggling to find a foothold?
\nThis question led me to ask my writing-self some probing and personal questions. Specifically, I wondered what part\u00a0my\u00a0words play\u00a0that struggle? \u00a0Why is it that I write what I write? Do I take the time to consider how my words might impact a devout reader? A questioning reader? An unbelieving reader? \u00a0Does it matter? What is my intention? Am hoping to entertain? To teach? To win an argument? Am I just trying to sound smart? Or to impress? Or be funny? \u00a0Are my choices of topic and tone and perspective serving the reader? Or am I serving myself? In a nutshell,\u00a0are the things I write part\u00a0of the problem or part of the solution?
\nIn her piece, Caroline made a somewhat counter-blog suggestion–for people to take some time off from reading to get alone with God and the Bible to gain a little clarity. I wonder if I might add my own counter-blog suggestion and ask that we take a break from writing long enough to consider these questions here together.
\nAll you writers out there…would love to hear your thoughts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been thinking about Caroline’s Ferdinandsen’s post on ConversantLife.com called A\u00a0Case for a Little Spiritual Quarantine. One line in particular has haunted me since I read it. \u00a0Caroline writes, “my Christian faith has suffered from my chronic reading, interfacing, and networking this past year.” \u00a0 I find this to be a chilling statement.\u00a0 I do…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Do You Write? - Flirting with Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2008\/11\/why-do-you-write.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Do You Write? - Flirting with Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I’ve been thinking about Caroline’s Ferdinandsen’s post on ConversantLife.com called A\u00a0Case for a Little Spiritual Quarantine. One line in particular has haunted me since I read it. \u00a0Caroline writes, “my Christian faith has suffered from my chronic reading, interfacing, and networking this past year.” \u00a0 I find this to be a chilling statement.\u00a0 I do…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2008\/11\/why-do-you-write.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Flirting with Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-11-28T19:14:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joan Ball\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Do You Write? - Flirting with Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2008\/11\/why-do-you-write.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Do You Write? - Flirting with Faith","og_description":"I’ve been thinking about Caroline’s Ferdinandsen’s post on ConversantLife.com called A\u00a0Case for a Little Spiritual Quarantine. 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