Ever since I fell in love with storytelling when I was seven years old, I’ve been writing my own stories. In the almost 25 years since then, I’ve tried a few different writing hacks to help me write more often and improve the quality of my writing. However, one practice I’ve implemented has had a significant impact, surpassing all the others, and it’s not one you’ll often see writing gurus recommend.

What Practice Has Helped My Writing Process the Most? Praying Before I Write!

If you’re a Christian, I cannot recommend praying before you write enough. For years, though I’ve been a born-again believer almost as long as I’ve been a writer, praying before sitting down to write rarely crossed my mind. It wasn’t until after the Lord worked on my heart concerning my author journey that I realized I should’ve started consulting God about my writing a long time ago!

Benefits of Praying Before Writing Sessions

I can’t remember if I started praying regularly before writing sessions while I was in the middle of drafting On the Flip Side or if I didn’t start doing that until starting Tales of An Awkward Turtle, but regardless, once I committed to praying before unleashing my whirlwind of thoughts onto blank pages, the entire writing experience improved for me.

I didn’t get stuck as often.

It didn’t take as long for me to enter the writing flow.

Since I write Christian fiction, writing the sermons and youth group discussions that were featured in the books not only became so much easier to write (this was something I struggled with during past books) but I also felt the Lord working on my own heart through those messages. I’m telling y’all, working with the Lord rather than asking Him to bless whatever words we plaster on paper is a game-changer!

In fact, I can tell while I’m writing if I forgot to pray before the session because I’ll catch myself struggling. It makes that much of a difference!

How to Pray Before Writing

The best thing about this writing practice is that anyone can do it, anywhere, at any time! In fact, praying is the most accessible writing practice there is. All we have to do is bring our writing project to the Lord, ask Him to lead and guide us as we write, and ask Him to help us make Him known through our writing. As long as we don’t have any selfish or bad intentions behind our prayers, there’s no wrong way to pray. The Lord knows our hearts, so, like when we pray for anything else, we need to approach Him with a humble and sincere heart and surrender our writing over to Him, trusting He will help us with it.

Personally, my prayers before writing aren’t long or eloquent. I basically ask Jesus to help me write for that day’s session. Sometimes, if I’ve been struggling with a particular aspect of the writing process, I’ll bring that before Him and ask Him to help me get through it. Like I mentioned above, I also ask Him to lead and guide my words and to help me write the book He would have me write.

That’s basically it! And I can promise you that, if and when you bring your writing project before God, that He will help you with it. Before I started praying before writing sessions, writing often felt like a chore that I needed to check off my to-do list, but now that I’m letting Jesus lead in that area, I’ve rediscovered the joy of writing and have been looking forward to sitting down for sessions.

And that, my friends, is just as He designed it to be. 🙂

Talk to Me, Arrowheads!

If you’re a Christian writer, do you pray before you write? If so, how has it impacted your writing?

P.S. There will not be a post here on Authoring Arrowheads next week, as my husband and I will be celebrating our anniversary! Regular posts will resume the following Wednesday.

Aim high, stay strong, and always hit your mark.

-Allyson 😀