WRITING THOSE FIRST FEW WORDS

My favourite movie, Miss Potter, ends with a scene where Beatrix is seated on a hillside in the beautiful Lake District of England writing. She speaks about writing the first words of a story. It never fails to move me. As does the scene in the movie Tolkien, where he writes the first words of The Hobbit. As Beatrix says,

‘There is something delicious about writing the first few words of a story. You never can tell where they’ll take you. Mine took me here, where I belong.’

I well remember writing the first words of Blood and Roses many years ago. I was sitting in the laundry room of my hotel in Toronto watching my washing swirl around inside the glass door of the machine—not exactly inspirational, you may think. On my lap lay a new journal, so I must have had good intentions, even if my pen was idle.

Suddenly I heard the still, small voice of Holy Spirit.

‘Well, don’t just sit there, write something.’ I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired, but in obedience to that command, I grabbed my pen. What should I write? For inspiration I looked at the picture on the cover of my journal. It was of an English Tudor cottage with a garden path flanked by flowers that led to the front door. I imagined someone walking down the path and knocking at the door, and I started writing.

‘The visitor knocked at the door. Eventually an old woman wearing a white cap and pale blue petticoat opened it.’

The visitor was a young man, Simon, a Puritan; the woman was his old nurse, a Royalist. And so, my story set in the British Civil War began. It was a time when close friends were torn apart by religious and political issues. For the reader it is the start of a journey with characters who must find a way forward in matters of faith and relationships. For me it was the start of a long exploration into the seventeenth century, journeys to places in the book and the adventure of writing my first novel.

That’s where my first words led me. Where might your first words lead you?

Join me for my free ‘Get Your Writing Airborne Challenge’ on April 25th-29th 2022 at 7pm Central Australian Standard Time for five half-hours of tips and activations to get you writing.

Message me below and I'll send you a Zoom link. Let the journey begin!