Latest / R Harris Writes Podcast / I Did It Scared: Finding Courage & Identity in Jesus' Grace - R. Harris Writes Podcast
Transcript
- riverside cc charli interview youtube r.'s studio (2): Alright, so before y'all see the interview that I have posted on RHarrisWrites podcast, I want y'all to know a little bit about the context behind the interview. When I when the book dropped, the paperback book dropped back in March of twenty twenty five, I was just I was in Florida and then we came back. A couple of months later, in my prayer time, I felt the prompt to share the description of the book with a neighbor. Now, this was a neighbor that I knew very well. We chopped it up a couple of times, but It was very clear. So I shared the back of the book description, did not tell them that I wrote the book. Before they responded with, that seems interesting, let me know more. They found the book, purchased it and everything. And I had I had a copy, a free copy waiting for them. So I was like, all right, cool. I appreciate the support. Even though they didn't know that they were supporting me. A couple of months later, me and my family are chilling outside of a house. the neighbor passes by and was like, hey, that book? I started reading it and it was it hit me like straight from the from the from the start. And she's like sharing like how, you know, the effects of it and like it made her think and all that. And my wife is right next to me. And she was like, Did you know that Ryan wrote the book? She was like, What? Like, so she like was kind of excited. And I'm like, I you know, I'm I'm not used to, you know, sharing myself in that way. least face to face. it's it's my first book, you know? And yeah, she she s shared that she's in film and she wanted to have an interview and do all this this whole process. So I was like, cool, yeah. So all I have to say is that I was not comfortable with sharing the thing. And I definitely didn't want them to know I wrote the book just out of just being shy and unsure. But I did it. I did it scared. So the interview you're about to see is a result of doing it scared. And standing on the promises that God has and trusting that what He puts in you, there's some goodness in it. And yeah. Hope you enjoy the interview. What type of questions do you ask yourself when planning a new book? Well, first the first question I ask myself when planning a new book is am I called to it. And do I want to express myself? Is this something that like I feel like the Lord is calling me to? Where's my heart in this? Because if my heart isn't in it, if it's or if it's a skewed version of what I want to express, then I don't want to pursue that. So ultimately the question is, is my heart pure? Am I coming from a place that is at peace? Do you ever consider the reader's perspective when you're writing? I definitely consider the reader's perspective when I'm writing. and that's difficult because you all wanna be authentic in your communication, but you also wanna speak to the hearts of people in a way that you're true and you you think about how could they experience your word. At the end of the day, I'm not trying to harden the hearts of people. I'm just trying to speak my experience and trying to encourage people to consider things. And if somebody's heart is hardened, then I'm I can't effectively communicate with them. What is your favorite motivational phrase? My favorite motivational phrase is his grace is sufficient. That phrase it lets me know that no matter what is going on, God's grace is with me, and I don't need to stand on my own strength. His strength is sufficient, his love is sufficient, his presence is all that I need. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books? The most surprising thing, in writing a book is how difficult it is to really get representation. I know it's a creative space and I know that there's a lot of people are very creative and still felt like a very small, kind of funneled experience to where if you're a writer, there's only a few avenues that you can go to. And especially being a Christian writer. They seem even smaller. Can you tell us about a book or author that has greatly inspired your own work? I couldn't say that there's one particular author that inspired my work. Because me being a new author, I don't have a writing style that I cling to. It's really I I speak with some of my heart. I try to do it authentically, but also clearly. Try to speak as plainly as possible. So there's not a particular author that I draw from in terms of writing style. But I I do speak from the heart. What is your favorite part of being a writer? My favorite part about being a writer is the ability to pause and really think about how I wanna say and really sit in it because I think, you know, when you speak, it's out there and you won't have a chance to really take it back. But the writing, I can write my thoughts, I can express myself and then at a certain point I can come back to it and then make adjustments. it's a completely different experience to what I'm used to. How do you get inspired to write? my inspiration comes from a lot of living life and observation. my whole life I've always looked at things and and wondered how they work and why they work. And then when it comes to people, I just find myself looking at at things and then the inspiration comes from really sitting with it and just wondering why. Can you share an instance where real life events inspired your writing? yeah. the real life instances that inspire my writing is how Jesus changed my life. I know how I was before. I know that I was isolated. I know that I was very critical of people and growing in my relationship with the Lord has allowed me to love in a way that It's not possible. It was not possible before. And my writing is is encouragement for everyone to seek that relationship because there's nothing better than being able to love in the way that the Lord loves you. Can you tell us about a book or author that has greatly inspired your own work? The writings in the in in the Bible greatly encourage my work because all my work is really derived from it. There's there's so much in it that you can spend lifetimes unpacking and experiencing everything that the Bible feeds us. So the writer would be the Holy Spirit. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books? the information comes from a wide range of resources. I listen to people speak. I read articles, I read books, 'cause my my writing stems from from life. So it's anywhere from talking to people to read books, have a background in in studying like science. so it it literally comes from everywhere. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing? Yeah, the the challenging part about writing is knowing what you want to say, but not knowing the right words and really not forcing yourself to just put things out, but to take your time, let it digest, and being humble enough to to recognize when something is not in alignment. One of the most surprising things I learned about creating books is the time you really need to take a break from writing and come back to it. You realize how much work you need to do to something you thought was good. Can you share a little of your current work with us? My current work is Carl and Copy's Shadows of the Almighty And what that is, it's a book that really encourages people to self reflect on their experiences. And let them know that God has given them an identity already. And it's their choice to seek and receive that identity. So for Carbon Copies, it's written really to ask three these three overlying questions. It's what do you believe about yourself? what influences your perspective? And would you consider that things may not be how you thought they are. If we can ask these tough questions, if we can look at ourselves and just spend some time, you don't have to be in the public space, you don't have to share with anybody. Or if we can ask ourselves, what do I think about myself? What do I think about my experiences? Is it possible that when we walk through life, all the things that we experience, we put on, put on these weights, we put on these good things and we put on bad things. And over time our eyes become calloused or our lens becomes dirty and we lose that That childhood view of the world, is it possible? And we can ask ourselves these tough questions. We can really consider hey. Have I taken on a belief Not even about on the outside, about my identity. Have I put on an identity that just isn't true, something I don't like or I don't believe in, but I feel like I don't have a choice. Carbon Copis is written to not tell you, but to encourage you to consider maybe the things that I engage with, maybe my experiences. For one, I'm not alone, but also, maybe the lens I have. Skewing my view. And we can walk through this in a personal way with Jesus. And we can get some clarity in our life. Do you hear from your readers? What kinds of things do they say? I do hear from my readers. And what they say is that my writing encourages them to reflect on their experiences in their life and reconsider what they believe. which is is it's pretty amazing that I was I'm able to really prompt those questions and reflections because that's what I aim to do, just have people just think. What is the most inspiring feedback you've ever received from a reader? The most inspiring feedback that I received is there was a an older gentleman that said reading reading my book, it was somewhat of a refresher, but a lot of it was brand new to him. And it made him really revisit everything that he understood and believed in a in a fresh new way. That was that's definitely inspiring and encouraging because for someone who has lived a good amount of life to say I encourage them to think differently, that's huge for me. What did your family think of your writing? My family first I want to say that they're super supportive and I I couldn't thank them enough. And when it comes to the writing, the feedback that they give me is not just encouraging because I'm part of the family, but they two have said they've been on this earth X amount of years and it really makes them go back and revisit some of the things that they had closed the book on. Some chapters that they thought were understood. So it's a contemplative response. What do you like to do when you're not writing? when I'm not writing, I I'm a builder. I like cankering. I like taking things apart, building them up. I'm very a hands on like creator, so like I work in my cars, I build all kinds of projects, I invent things. So yeah, I work my hands a lot when I'm not writing. What is your favorite book and why? My favorite book is the Bible. It's my favorite book because it's literally like living. It it speaks to me in so many different ways. There's there's so much wisdom and love sewn into it. And also caution. the Bible is always the Bible is always speaking to me with a similar overtone. But it it speaks to the details of life and guides me through life. So I love it. What books are you reading at present? I'm always reading my word. And I'm reading a book called To Know Him by Name by Rabbi Kirk Schneider. And every day at night I read at least three books to my my daughters. How do you hope your work will impact your rears? I hope my work really would encourage readers to ask the tough questions, be brave enough to say why? Who am I? what do I do? What do I believe? And what is what is influencing my perspective? And take those those hard steps to consider a new lens, a different perspective. What might your next book be about? so my next book is actually part of the series from the first book. So the next book is actually talking about how do we put on the identity of Christ? How do we walk in that? How can readers discover more about you and your work? if readers want to discover more about my work, they can go to rharish rice dot com. Now that you've heard the interview, you've heard some of my heart and you heard the motivation behind my writing. Next step is to go to rharriswrites.com and get the free devotional. I wrote a seven day devotional written in the same style as carbon copies the book. So if you're like, I don't know about it, get a devotional. It's free, just download it. And I and there's an audiobook version too. So if you want to read it, you can listen to it on your way to work, whatever, and just listen and and receive the word. Because I do have, you know, I'll see scriptures in a devotional. And if that intrigues you, if it serves you well, go ahead and get the book. Carm copy is the paperback, ebook, or audio book, or get all of them. You guys have a great day. Peace.