Writing As Prayer

While leading a writer's workshop, Dan Wakefield said that writing is a form of prayer. One participant objected, saying that writing is plain hard work. "Well, prayer can be hard work, too," Wakefield answered.

Soon after, he came across a biography of Franz Kafka in a used bookstore. While browsing its pages, he discovered that the famed nineteenth-century writer had already said it: "Writing is prayer." He had to smile.

Think about it: Faithful writing is an act of devotion to God because it requires us to focus our full attention on God's redemptive purpose in our world. It is an act of supplication because we seek God's help as we write. And it is an act of faith because we find ourselves describing what we think God's help will look like.

The outcome of our writing can be just as surprising as the outcome of prayer, too, especially when we can't anticipate what our characters will do. We may grope for a clear vision of their future until, by the grace of God, an unexpected turn of plot leads them to a satisfying resolution of their problem.

That's what inspired writing does. I believe it's what inspired praying does as well.


Joe Allison writes both fiction and nonfiction, and has been a member of the Indiana chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers since 2010. He lives in Anderson, IN, with his wife Maribeth and daughter Heather.