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Prayers for Writers and Patron Saint of Writers

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“Prayers for Writers and Patron Saint of Writers ” by Joan Y. Edwards

My friend, Linda Martin Andersen (author of many magazine articles and a fun blog for writers, A Writer’s Playground) and I were talking yesterday morning about the need for prayer before writing a memoir like hers about when her husband had a double lung transplant or a non-fiction book, like my Joan’s Elder Care Guide where you delve deeply into strong, tense, emotional memories.
I pray for perseverance, confidence, courage, clarity, creativity, and wisdom. I believe that most other writers pray for guidance, too. What about you?

I usually say the “Our Father” before I submit my work to a publisher. And I say the “Our Father” before I submit the my last revised chapter or whole manuscript to the editor of the publisher.
Sometimes my confidence gets down to less than one per cent. It seems to me I need more to keep me going and believing in me and my writing. Is there a patron Saint for Writers? Are there special prayers for writers? I went on a search to find answers to these questions to help Linda and me. I thought you might benefit from a meaningful prayer before you write, too.

I guessed that one of the four men who wrote the Gospels…Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John would be the patron Saint of writers. However, I was wrong. St. Francis de Salles is the patron Saint of Journalists and Writers. When people wouldn’t listen to his sermons and slammed the door in his face, he wrote his talks down on paper and slid them under their doors.  He talked and treated the children well which made the parents more willing to listen to his words. St. Francis de Salles said that not only priests and nuns could have a dedicated life to God, but others in all walks of life could benefit from spiritual meditation.

I found four prayers for writers.

O Creator of the universe, who has set the stars in the heavens and causes the sun to rise and set, shed the light of your wisdom into the darkness of my mind. Fill my thoughts with the loving knowledge of you, that I may bring your light to others. Just as you can make even babies speak your truth, instruct my tongue and guide my pen to convey the wonderful glory of the Gospel. Make my intellect sharp, my memory clear, and my words eloquent, so that I may faithfully interpret the mysteries which you have revealed.

Open my mind, Lord. Grant me the talent to write with clarity and style, so my words go down rich and smooth, like fine wine, and leave my reader thirsty for more.

Open my heart, Lord. Grant me the sensitivity to understand my characters–their hopes, their wants, their dreams–and help me to confer that empathy to my reader.

Open my soul, Lord, so I may be a channel to wisdom and creativity from beyond my Self. Stoke my imagination with vivid imagery and vibrant perception.

But most of all, Lord, help me to know the Truth, so my fiction is more honest than actuality and reaches the depths of my reader’s soul.

Wrap these gifts with opportunity, perseverance, and the strength to resist those who insist it can’t be done.
Amen.

Lord, inspire me to write stories that touch readers’ hearts.  Breathe your spirit into my characters so they come alive on the written page.  Help me develop intriguing plots full of twists and turns that capture the imagination and move the story to a satisfying resolution.  Keep me focused and on schedule, and take away any fear or sense of inadequacy that blocks my progress.  Give me courage to step out in faith, to stretch and grow and to be the writer you have called me to be.
Amen.

God Above All Things,
In these moments while the document loads and my fingers rest on the keyboard grant me first an emptiness.
Remove the to-do list that waits impatiently in the corner of my mind.

Quiet the voice saying, “You’re not ready, you’re not good enough, you don’t have anything to say.”

Shield me from the imagined judgmental gaze of my advisor.
Grant me first an emptiness, an openness, a mind unchained by anxiety.

Grant me then a fullness. Where insecurity lurks, pour out confidence and curiosity. Where there is fatigue, fill me with generosity and energy. Where there is fear, fill me with courage.
Shelter me in your strength and quiet the world around me.

For these few hours grant me peace and solitude in my thoughts.
Bless this mind you’ve given and help me use it fully. Help me seek and push the limits of my abilities. Remind me that I have read enough, I have enough, I am enough, and with time this paper will come to a place where it, too, is enough (at least for now).
In Your name I pray,
Amen.

Please share with me in the comment area, your prayers and ways you center and ground yourself before you write or before you submit a manuscript for critique or publication.
Good luck with your publications. Believe in you and your writing.

Celebrate you.

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Never Give Up
Joan Y. Edwards, Author
Copyright © 2015 Joan Y. Edwards
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