Goodbye writer’s block, hello inspiration!

by Amy Farnsworth

Hi, my name is Amy Farnsworth and I’m interning at The Christian Science Monitor this summer. For the next two months, I’ll be helping out on the business side of the Monitor as an online marketing intern. It’s something new for me and I’m excited to learn more since I’m usually on the editorial side. I’m not a stranger to Boston (I’ve been here for 3 years studying journalism at Emerson College), but working at the Monitor has been a dream of mine since I started attending Sunday School.

Journalism is my passion, and being a part of the Monitor’s journalistic mission is thrilling for me as an aspiring journalist and a Christian Scientist.

I just finished working at The Boston Globe for six months in their co-op program as an editorial assistant in their business pages. It was an incredible experience—one where I got to mingle with established journalists, watch the news unfold and develop in one of the top newsrooms in the country, and I even had a chance to write stories. During my six months at The Globe, I interviewed Mandy Moore, met a guy who spent his days scooping up ice cream for dogs, watched people gather on the weekends to dance and breathe with fire, and saw a brand new yoga studio combining indie rock with the traditional art form.

When I look back through my portfolio of newspaper clips from these past months, I can’t help but feel grateful for the opportunities I have had and continue to have in my life. What I love the most about journalism is that it allows me to enter other people’s lives and find out more about the world. Best of all, is the chance to tell stories.

But for a while it seemed like I could never think of anything to write about. To put it simply, I had to battle this stubborn idea that I had writer’s block.

When I started my co-op, I was constantly searching for ideas. It seemed like every idea was old news, but I knew there had to be some stories out there that were just waiting to be told. I knew I had to put my trust in God.

I specifically recall speaking to my mom on the telephone one night and saying “God has led me this far, why would He lead me astray now?” After this conversation, I knew God would provide me with the right idea—I just had to listen. So, I was patient, every day, constantly seeking and searching for those universal ideas and waiting for the good to unfold. I knew God never doubted me, though I sometimes doubted Him.

When I began to listen, God was there, directing me. What I really held on to during this time was a citation from Science and Health. It’s something that has helped me in many situations, “Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear.”
Around the third month of my co-op, I hopped onto a community message board I had not visited in months only to find a lead for a story. Someone had posted a message, and I curiously clicked on the comments. I found out about a new hobby emerging in Massachusetts. That one click of a mouse led to more ideas and more stories. Before I knew it, I found myself reporting, surrounded by 20 people both spinning fire and breathing fire on a Friday night at a college in Massachusetts.

As I watched the glorious balls of fire swirl around their bodies, I understood that God led me to a story I had never imagined.

From then on, story ideas came to me very clearly. I even got one when I was taking out my trash one night. I found a flier outside my doorstep that later developed into a story.

These inspirational ideas or angel’s messages helped me truly realize God’s constant care. They brought a new sense of direction to my life. Now, whenever I think I have writer’s block, I instantly dismiss that thought. I know that with God, there is an infinite abundance of ideas that flow as gracefully as the fire dancers spinning their brilliant embers in the night sky.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 at 2:27 pm and is filed under Anxiety, Creativity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.