SSS: Overwrite, or Why You’ll See Less Posting

So this one’s not going to be a teachable moment or an opinion piece. Instead, I’m going to give a bit of an update on my life and the future state of this blog.

When I started Shed the Sunday School Glasses back in January, I already had two months of content written. I had spent weeks before January 1 researching ideas, putting posts together, and coming up with fancy or creative angles on familiar stories. I said to myself, “I can easily keep up a post a week. Sometimes two. If I can do it during school, I can do it when I start working too.”

This was also a period of experimenting for me. I was trying to decide exactly what I wanted these stories to look like. Would they have third person narrations with a witty narrator who points out the ridiculous details of a story (like in the Jonah stories)? Would they be written from the perspective of a major or minor character, looking into how culture affects what they thought (like the three Ruth stories)? How would I balance writing from the Old and New Testaments when the Old has far more stories, but the New has Jesus, whom the entire Bible is about?

Any of you who have stuck with me the last seven-ish months will know that I’ve gone back and forth stylistically, and with the exception of the month on Peter, most of my focus has landed in the Old Testament, but hopefully with some aspect that points back to Jesus. As for the posts I’ve most enjoyed, it’s definitely been those written from the perspective of a specific character.

Maybe that’s me wanting to develop my characterization skills as a writer. Maybe it’s part of my hope deep down that one day I can write for TV or something. I’m not really sure, but I do know that one of my favourite posts to date has been Balaam’s donkey, told from the donkey’s perspective. It’s one of those weird, crazy ideas that I think turned out really good. And it’s for these reasons that I’ve kept on writing and posting as frequently as I have.

But by the time I hit the end of the spring semester in April, I had used up my two month buffer. Readings and assignments for my Masters made it difficult to keep producing new posts. I always figured I wouldn’t stay two months ahead, but I had hoped I could keep up a buffer of at least a couple weeks.

So I tried that for a bit. When I returned to school in May, I had about three weeks of content ready, and I intended to keep it that way. That didn’t last long. By the time I finished my course six weeks later, I had lost my buffer again.

Since then, I’ve basically been writing week to week. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – I know writers who do that all the time – but I’ve always been one who wants to keep a little ahead. But mix that with a regular part time writing gig that I took on last month and a new part time job I started this week, and what was already a difficult pace for me to keep up has just become much harder. I’ve kept my deadlines so far, both work related and self-imposed, but I sometimes wonder at what cost.

I love this project. I’ve always been fascinated by stories told from an unusual perspective or that highlight unusual details. And I still believe shedding your Sunday school glasses is a valuable storytelling strategy.

But lately, I don’t think I’ve been doing that here. My focus has been on my new jobs, and rightly so, but these have received the majority of my mental power. This has left me trying to pump out new posts for this blog as fast as I possibly can in the little free time I’ve had with whatever energy I have left after already writing all day.

As a result, I haven’t been reading the Bible as closely as I would like when prepping these stories. I haven’t been looking for those unique details that we often overlook. I’ve been taking a character’s perspective and running with it, but the result has often been posts that aren’t all that different from what you might usually get in Sunday school.

Again, there’s nothing wrong with that per se, but that’s never been the goal. And to continue writing as I have, pumping out mentally drained content for the sake of it instead of actually caring about the project or the purpose behind, will only frustrate me.

SO… Effective today, I’ll be taking a break from Shed the Sunday School Glasses. You will not see me posting much between now and at least early October. I may throw a one-off in there if I’m feeling particularly interested one day, but right now I need to focus on my other projects.

When I do come back to this, and I really hope I can, my posting schedule will probably look different. I’m thinking 2-3 posts a month instead of 5-6, but even that might be pushing it. A lot will depend on work situations and figuring out how much time I have to devote to this project again.

Thank you to all of you who have checked these stories out each week, who’ve complimented me on my writing and the truth that’s been highlighted, and who’ve liked or favourited my Facebook posts and tweets. You’ve been a great encouragement to me, especially as I’ve been working through this decision. I really do hope I can come back soon.

Until then, keep shedding your Sunday school glasses. Keep rediscovering the wonder in those familiar Sunday school stories. Keep being willing to read Scripture through a fresh set of eyes. And keep being amazed by our God.

All the best,

~Brentagious