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From Father Christopher Jamison, Benedictine Monk:

This week we鈥檙e thinking about the 500 Words competition and I鈥檓 so thrilled at the thought of all the creativity that this will unleash. Last year鈥檚 winners clearly worked hard to produce some amazing stories. But some people think great stories or great poems just come in flash of inspiration but the reality of a great piece is 10% inspiration followed by 90% perspiration. A great idea is just the starting point and honing it into the right shape can be laborious. I鈥檝e written a couple of books, books about wisdom rather than stories, although ancient wisdom is often best conveyed through stories. The idea for my two books both came from the questions people asked me when they came to stay in our monastery guest house. They were good questions: one woman asked: why I鈥檓 always so busy? Another wanted to know are monks happy? These and other excellent questions became the starting point for a chapter. Sometimes the best way was just to write very quickly with rough sentences and then chip away the dross until something good emerged, like carving an image out of stone. Has it been worth all the hard graft? Definitely, but the real satisfaction comes from the unexpected places where my books end up and the unexpected comments people write. For example, a prisoner telling me how much a book has helped him. Or somebody saying they鈥檝e come back to faith in God. I had no idea that once you鈥檝e published a book it has life of its own. I have created something much bigger than me that affects people in ways I could never imagine. The purpose of writing, I鈥檝e come to realise, is not to be an inspired author. A good writer is someone who enables other people to be inspired. Good luck 500 worders!