Favorite Quotes

Some of my favorite quotes I've been hoarding over the past year: 

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I am under no obligation to make sense to you.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson

It’s life that matters, nothing but life—the process of discovering, the everlasting and perpetual process, not the discovery itself, at all.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Let people feel the weight of who you are and let them deal with it.

John Eldridge

If you don’t pray often, you won’t gain a love for praying. Prayer is work, and therefore it is not very appealing to our natural sensibilities. But the simple rule for prayer is this: Begin praying and your taste for prayer will increase. The more you pray, the more you will acquire the desire for prayer, the energy for prayer, and the sense of purpose in prayer.

Leslie Ludy

But it’s only by having some distance from the world that you can see it whole, and understand what you should be doing with it.

Pico Iyer 

I enjoy controlled loneliness. I like wandering around the city alone. I’m not afraid of coming back to an empty flat and lying down in an empty bed. I’m afraid of having no one to miss, of having no one to love.

Kuba Wojewodzki

Look, l may not be an explorer, or an adventurer, or a treasure seeker, or a gunfighter, Mr. O’Connell, but l am proud of what l am. I am a librarian.

Evelyn O’Connell

My life is not an apology, but a life. It is for itself and not for a spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine and equal, than that it should be glittering and unsteady.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I used to be afraid of failing at something that really mattered to me, but now I’m more afraid of succeeding at things that don’t matter.

Bob Goff

Attract them by the way you live.

Saint Augustine

The best portion of a good man’s life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.

William Wordsworth

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the whole earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.

Thich Nhat Hanh

I also believe that introversion is my greatest strength. I have such a strong inner life that I’m never bored and only occasionally lonely. No matter what mayhem is happening around me, I know I can always turn inward.

Susan Cain

Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.

G.D Anderson

Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It’s seeing through the facade of pretense. It’s the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.

Adyashanti

Such a simplified lifestyle can be truly wonderful - you’ll finally have time for the things you really love, for relaxation, for outdoor activities, for exercise, for reading or finding peace and quiet, for the loved ones in your life, for the things you’re most passionate about. This is what it means to thrive - to live a life full of the things you want in them, and not more. To live a better quality of life without having to spend and buy and consume.

Leo Babauta, Thriving on Less: Simplifying in a Tough Economy

You have to dream, you have to have a vision, and you have to set a goal for yourself that might even scare you a little because sometimes that seems far beyond your reach. Then I think you have to develop a kind of resistance to rejection, and to the disappointments that are sure to come your way.

Gregory Peck

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.

Jim Rohn 

Blessed are the weird people - poets, misfits, writers, mystics, painters, troubadours - for they teach us to see the world through different eyes.

Jacob Nordby 

Nobody is superior, nobody is inferior, but nobody is equal either. People are simply unique, incomparable.

Osho

It was being a runner that mattered, not how fast or how far I could run. The joy was in the act of running and in the journey, not in the destination. We have a better chance of seeing where we are when we stop trying to get somewhere else.

John Bingham

Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.

Henry David Thoreau, Walden

The most monstrous monster is the monster with noble feelings.

fyodor dostovevsky, the eternal husband

One day, a long time from now you’ll cease to care anymore whom you please or what anybody has to say about you. That’s when you’ll finally produce the work you’re capable of.

J.D. Salinger

Someone once asked me, “Why do you insist on taking the hard road?” I replied, “Why do you assume I see two roads?”

Unknown

I wasn’t actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

But luxury has never appealed to me, I like simple things, books, being alone, or with somebody who understands.

Daphne du Maurier

I wish I could have the ability to write down the feelings I have now while I’m still little, because when I grow up I will know how to write, but I will have forgotten what being little feels like.

Sylvia Plath, age 8

Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.

Gustave Flaubert

Before you speak to me about your religion, first show it to me in how you treat other people; before you tell me how much you love your God, show me in how much you love all His children; before you preach to me of your passion for your faith, teach me about it through your compassion for your neighbors. In the end, I’m not as interested in what you have to tell or sell as I am in how you choose to live and give.

Cory Booker

At twenty-something my world is new: new opportunities, new understanding, new standards. I have learned the exterior details of life are infinitely expandable. If I’m not suited for something, I can move on. I can find a better place to belong. Life is and will always be a terrifyingly honest representation of what I value most. I hope to choose wisely.

danae marie

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Thesis On Riprap

Life is incredibly hectic right now! Still, I am thankful I have a lot to look forward to. The NAIA cross country meet is next week already...as well as the first draft of my senior thesis. The thesis is coming along well, I'm writing about Taoism (an ancient Chinese philosophy), poetry, and one of Gary Snyder's poems. I'm on page 10 of 25, and thankfully still have more to say. 

The poem: 

Riprap

Gary Snyder

Lay down these words 

Before your mind like rocks. 

  placed solid, by hands

In choice of place, set

Before the body of the mind

  in space and time: 

Solidity of bark, leaf or wall

  riprap of things:

Cobble of milky way, 

  straying planets, 

These poems, people, 

  lost ponies with 

Draggling saddles --

  and rocky sure-foot trails. 

The worlds like an endless 

  four-dimensional 

Game of Go. 

  ants and pebbles

In the thin loam, each rock a word 

  a creek-washed stone

Granite: ingrained

  with torment of fire weight 

Crystal and sediment linked hot 

  all change, in thoughts, 

As well as things. 

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Gary Syder

Snyder was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Turtle Island, his 1974 collection of poetry, which he hoped would override his “Beat poet” epithet; even so, his personal friendships with other leaders of the movement had forever endeared him as a Beat writer. He graduated from Reed College and began his masters in anthropology but quit soon after he began. In 1956, he left from San Francisco to Japan to study at the First Zen Institute of Kyoto. In an interview with Nathaniel Tarn, Snyder explained that “Anthropology was concerned with understanding human nature--but then why go to other people, why not study one’s own nature. So…Zen.” Two years later, in 1958, he returned to the States and published his first book of poetry, Riprap (1959). “The Zen tradition of Buddhism often defines itself as ‘seeing into one’s own nature,’” Snyder explained, “and its discipline of meditation aims at gaining a clear perception of the self and the external world.” Zen, an echo of the more “orthodox” Taoist philosophy, was the foundation driving Snyder’s work. When explaining the inspiration behind his condensed yet distinctly nuanced poetic lines, he said, “I tried writing poems of tough, simple, short words, with the complexity far beneath the surface texture. In part the line was influenced by the five- and seven-character line Chinese poems I’d been reading, which work like sharp blows on the mind.” Snyder’s “Riprap,” the poem his first book was later named after, is similarly composed into “simple, short, words” that allows the reader to feel the prick of reality beyond the syntax; the words themselves were not the pinnacle of meaning.

References:
Charters, Ann. (2001). Beat Down Your Soul. “Gary Snyder.” Penguin Putnam Inc.  
Tarn, Nathaniel. (1972). From Anthropologist to Informant: A Field Record of Gary Snyder. Alcheringa, issue 4. 
Almon, Bert. (1977). Buddhism and Energy in the Recent Poetry of Gary Snyder. Mosaic: A Journal for the Comparative Study of Literature and Ideas, Vol. XI, No. 1.

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{dm}

Quotes from The Brothers Karamazov

“A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anywhere around him, and thus falls into disrespect towards himself and others” (44). 

"It sometimes feels very good to take offense, doesn't it? And surely he knows that no one has offended him, and that he himself has invented the offense and told lies just for the beauty of it, that he has exaggerated for the sake of effect...he knows all that, and still he is the first to take offense, he likes feeling offended, it gives him great pleasure, and thus he reaches the point of hostility" (44).

“It’s already a great deal and very well for you that you dream of that in your mind and not of something else. Once in a while, by chance, you may really do some good deed” (56).

"The more I love mankind in general, the less I love people in particular, that is, individually, as separate persons...I often went so far as to think passionately of serving mankind, and, it may be, would really have gone to the cross for people if it were somehow suddenly necessary, and yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone even for two days, this I know from experience. As soon as someone is there, close to me, his personality oppresses my self-esteem and restricts my freedom" (57).

"You will behold great sorrow, and in this sorrow you will be happy" (77).

"But to fall in love does not mean to love. One can fall in love and still hate" (104).

"She loves her own virtue, not me" (117).

"I know your thoughts. Your heart is better than your head" (134).

"He has hidden indignation seething in him because he has to pretend...to put on all this holiness" (135).

"No, maybe you will love her eternally, but maybe you won't always be happy with her..." (145).

"Lord have mercy on them all today, unhappy and stormy as they are, preserve and guide them. All ways are yours: save them according to your ways. You are love, you will send joy to all!" (160).

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Only a little preview of Part I (the furthest I've read)

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{dm}

The Glass Castle: Memoir of A Woman Much Stronger Than Glass

It's now the dead of summer. With summer follows a bit of space in our schedules (we hope, anyway). If you're looking for a good summer read, consider The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

For me, the book provided more than mere entertainment. Jeannette's is a story we could all learn from. Growing up far below the poverty line, she learned how to become self-efficient, smart, and resilient to whatever life threw her way; and let me tell you, life chucked her some pretty nasty dirt.

Here's a short summary from Goodreads, you can find the rest at: Goodreads.com/The Glass Castle

Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn’t stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an “excitement addict.” Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever. More

While turning through the memories of Jeannette's childhood, I couldn't help my jealous thoughts. Perhaps, never having lived in poverty, I'm like the anxious house cat trying to sneak its way out the back door, oblivious to the harsh realities of the wild.

Nevertheless, the pages of Jeannette's story stirred me deeply, as all good books should. Her memoir led me to a simple fact: security isn't everything.

Security is favorable, it's what we are conditioned to desire. It's practical, too. Nobody likes falling out of a car zooming down the highway and waiting for hours with a bloody nose and gravel-torn skin, debating whether daddy will actually stop and turn around for you (one of Jeannette's memories).

Yet, with too much security, something within our human soul suffers, I'm convicted of it. People become bored, and as a result, boring.

With that being said, life is not a matter of what we do, but how we think. Living is entirely a mindset.

You can be as poor as dirt, never have a real place to call home, or new clothes, or consistent meals, or reliable parents, or friends, and still feel content and okay about life. That might seem like a stretch, but it's Jeannette's story.

Her childhood goes to show that some of the richest, most brilliant experiences of life can still came from a life in complete poverty.

We all need to remember that.

As we work hours and hours at our nine to five jobs, remember. Remember that happiness and fulfillment have little connection to the zeros behind our paychecks. As we save and save for that new car, bigger house, better school, remember. Providing for a family consists of more than a roof and a weekly grocery list and the latest technology.

More importantly, providing for a family means investing in their souls. It means taking your children outside and looking up at the stars together, explaining the names and stories behind the constellations and asking each one of those excited little faces to pick out their favorite, because Christmas presents will come and go but stars will last for lightyears.

Providing for a family means showing your children they don't need the weight of possessions, the confirmation of other's approval, or the comfort of a really nice home. Instead, providing for them means showing (not just telling) them life has a lot more to offer. It means challenging their thinking, inspiring them with the way you choose to live, and truly believing in the potential that they can only reach on their own; this is the rutty, more authentic beauty of provision.

I wouldn't suggest becoming an alcoholic, or losing yourself in your own dreams, or refusing to work, or neglecting to feed your children. I wouldn't suggest running from the police, or laying in bed for days, or stealing your kid's grocery money, or leaving and never saying when or if you'll come back.

Rather, I would suggest, no matter who you are, what you do, or the stage of life your family is in, to intentionally be aware of the way you think. The truest forms of joy and fulfillment lie just above your shoulders, a little behind your eyes, and squarely between your ears. Dear Reader, it's the simple, little things in life that produce life's fullness; things like intimacy, love, and peace. All things, I will modestly point out, that have nothing to do with your social or financial status, or the quality of your lawn.

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Jeannette Walls

Jeanette Walls - BIOGRAPHY

Jeannette Walls was born in Phoenix, Arizona. Her parents moved the family around the southwest before settling for a time in Welch, West Virginia. It was in West Virginia, as she entered her teens, that she was often mistreated. At age 17 she moved to New York City. With the help of part-time jobs, she eventually entered Columbia University’s Barnard College, where she graduated with honors.

She had come to love journalism while working on her high school newspaper so she tried working as a gopher for New York Magazine while she attended college. She eventually moved to the business section and ended up a news reporter for USA Today. Her first gossip column was written once again at New York Magazine. She moved on to Esquire Magazine’s gossip column and worked at MSNBC as an online columnist and television segment reporter for eight years (leaving in 2007), before deciding to turn her full attention to writing books. She now lives in Virginia and is married to another writer, John Taylor. 

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“We are not rich by what we possess but by what we can do without.” 
― Immanuel Kant
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{dm}

Publication (?)

ATTENTION READERS:  

It's been a blast writing short stories and sharing my thoughts with you all. However! I've decided it's time for me to write for publication (outside the blog).

I will be doing a little research on the topic of strangers and the concept of "otherness." This means you will not see any blog posts from me for the majority of this week as I will be spending my mornings bringing the essay together. I'm really excited to see the final product, I hope you will be too.

Here are some good magazines to consider if you are also looking into publishing some of your work:

Caveat emptor!
{Taken from Poets & Writers Magazine}

Readers should be aware of publishers who charge, rather than pay, an author for publication; and contests that charge high reading fees. The magazine recommends that you see the publication and submission guidelines before submitting a manuscript; if you have questions regarding an advertiser's commitment to publication, please contact the advertiser directly.

OMOSKEAG
invites submissions of essays, short stories, poems, and b&w photography. It's an open themed issue. See website: www.amoskeagjournal.com for submission guidelines. Submission period ends November 1. Include your email and USPS address.

ANDERBO.COM
"Best New Online Literary Journal," features writers in fiction, "fact," and poetry. Always looking for new voices. For submission information and guidelines, visit www.anderbo.com.

BLUESTEM
(formerly Karamu)
is accepting submissions for Spring 2013 print issue and for our online quarterly issues. Submit unpublished poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and drawings online at our new website www.bluestemmagazine.com. See website for guidelines.

Happy publishing! You will hear from me sometimes within the next week.

Yours truly,
{dm}

The Writing Challenge

Classes officially start tomorrow. 15 credits (5 classes) + working + xc practice 2 hours a day + meets on the weekends = my crazy life. However! I thrive under pressure. Really, I do. My body might not appreciate me, but my mind loves it. I'll be honest, I love to learn.

That being said, I met with one of my English professors today. It was...educational. He gave me a challenge. I hated him a little for saying it, but I have decided to accept.

Essentially, he told me if I am serious about writing, I need to learn self-discipline.

What does that mean? It means carving out an hour of my day strictly devoted to writing. He said that writing isn't about talent, it's about discipline. Yikes. He also said if I'm serious about grad school (being a student even longer. Ahh), I need to try to get stuff published (unfortunately, blogs don't count). I've recently discovered some sweet magazines that few people know about (Hipster? Possibly. Aha). They're interested in creativity with no boundaries. That's my kind of thing. So I'll write things for them, send it in, and NOT be disappointed when it isn't published. I've also found a whole magazine filled with upcoming writing contests and deadlines, most of the due dates are in October. I have some time. I'll write stuff for a few of those too. Granted, English Ph. Ds and MFAs will also be submitting, but who's comparing? At least I'm writing. That's all that matters.

So. I really do have to blog every day (well, he said 5 days a week). I have to prove to myself I can do it. NO EXCUSES!

1 hour. 5 days a week. Goal set.

So this is where you, my lovely readers, come into serious consideration. You are the lucky ones who get to enjoy the growing pains of this undertaking. I will definitely keep you all in mind.

The number one rule in writing: Know your audience.

So let's think about this:

Q: Who is my audience?
A: Mostly my friends and family, because they're the one's who actually care about me, and are interested in me as a person, even if my writing is...well...only so-so (for now).

However, I do have a few followers that I have never met personally. This excites me because you lovely readers don't know me. Therefore, you will judge me based only on my writing (that is, if you actually do read what I write). I hope you do judge me. Better yet, give me feed back. Be mean, I can handle it. I will reply to every single comment. Opinions matter to me. Every. Single. One.

Q: What will I write about?
A: Now, before I answer this, I know most people are super visual, and reading can get monotonous. Honestly, I don't know how many pictures I'll be able to add. Still, I'll do my best to keep you all interested, invigorated, and at the edge of your seats. Ah, well, something like that anyway. Whatever you do, just DON'T GIVE UP ON ME!

I'm going to write about a lot of things. Basically, things that interest me. Namely, myself. Haha. But not just me, more importantly, how I see life. I think this is the easiest way to find a clear voice. I will characterize myself. I will also be writing short stories for the contests/magazines. However, those will probably pop up under the "my work" tab, not on the main feed.

Q: What will happen if this doesn't happen?
A: I don't know. It's not an option.

I mean, really? Come on, this will happen. I'm a runner, I know how this kind of thing works. It's called endurance. 

Also note, I may not publish everything I write on my blog. So if it looks like I'm slacking, I'm probably not. I'll just post a bigger document on the "my work" tab when I'm done with the final product. Or, I might just not publish it here at all.

--

Additionally, I like to write memoirs. In the past they have been light, humorous (i.e.: What it Takes and Paneradise). Maybe in the future I'll get a little more serious. Also, if you know me, you could possibly show up in my writing. I hope you don't mind. I just wanted to give a heads up.

You may be thinking this is really cute. Aw, she wants to write every day. She wants be published in magazines. Like that will actually happen. 

Good. I hope you are. I am here to prove you all wrong. The lower your expectation is for me, the more I can impress you. And let's be honest, obviously, you don't know me. If I know there is a greater purpose for this, and if I say I'm going to do this, I sure as hell will. Starting tomorrow and ending sometime in December. I'll be studying in China next semester so I don't want to commit to something if I'm not sure I'll have access to a computer the whole time.   

I'll post what I've written on Facebook and Twitter every now and then; probably when I'm exceptionally impressed with what I've written. I won't let you down, this will be fun. And even when it's not fun, even when I hate myself for getting up an hour earlier, and writing for you, I'll do it. I'll do it because I love you all, because this benefits all of us, and because I have this sneaking suspicion you, Professor Cline, and the rest of the world see me as some kind of funny little joke and I need to prove that this is serious business! Haha. I'm a nutcase.

I'll be posting bright and early.

Most sincerely your dedicated writer,

{dm}

“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up & get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part & a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you." ~ Chuck Close

So Many Books

Ok, I'll admit it. I love books. Not just any kind of book though, it must be well-written. Nerdy? Definitely. Ashamed? Absolutely not. Books are a way of escape; to stop being yourself for a while and cross over into the mind of the writer. And if the author does it right, it's quite entertaining. It's like a movie, except it requires your own imagination and possibly more time. Maybe I take too much pride in the fact that I enjoy books. Probably. It is one of my many quirks. Regardless, I embrace it.

Argos Bookstore {Yes, that is Spiderman on the window--vintage style}

After discovering the quaint, old-world bookstore in Saugatuck on my birthday, my mom and I decided to check out other charming old used bookstores nearby.

We came across two in East Grand Rapids.  

Redux Books {Check out that ivy!}

Shelves upon shelves of tattered, torn, worn, and treasured old books. 

Maybe my books will be in this section of bookstores one day.

I bought a book. It is creative non-fiction, a memoir from the author. It's called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. I know, the title itself is ironic. "A cheap kind of joke" the author calls it, as it is his own writing he calls "staggering genius". This eludes to the type of character he presents. I read the first chapter. I love it so far. Dave Eggers has a distinctive voice: sarcastic, sophisticated and witty.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

I took a fiction writing class last semester. One of the things I learned was how difficult it is to publish a book. If you have ever considered writing/publishing a book, prepare to be turned down! My professor explained it takes up to 70 tries before you land on a publisher. That's sixty-nine rejections! Still, Thomas Edison didn't invent the lightbulb after the first attempt...

I also learned in the class that, when trying to sell your novel to a reputable publisher, you'll need to write a book proposal including the following: 

1. Identify a publisher (or seventy)

2. Write a query letter (one-page letter of inquiry introducing and selling your novel)

3. Prepare a three-page synopsis of your story

4. Select a sample chapter of your novel

5. Create your author profile (your resume)  

For guidelines on how to create a proposal, I recommend Googling it. :) Also, click here for a link that I found helpful.

If you ever aspire to write a book and publish it, I wish you the best. 

Know that we're both in this together. 

{dm} 

Writing Advice

Advice to Writers from C.S. Lewis 

1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean, and make sure your sentence couldn't mean anything else.

2. Always prefer the plain direct word to the long vague one. Don't "implement" promises, but "keep" them.

3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean "more people died," don't say "mortality rose."

4. Don't use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was "terrible," describe it so that we'll be terrified. Don't say it was "delightful." make us say "delightful" when we're read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only saying to your readers "please will you do my job for me."

5. Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

- Exerpts from Letters of C.S. Lewis, Wheaton College Wade Collection, 1978

His Unholy Host

I wish there were more hours in the day! With 3 big papers due Thursday, I'm doing enough writing!! I'm working on a novel. Here is the premise:

His Unholy Host; a psychologically complex thriller fully emerged in supernatural experiences, paranormal beings, and an internal conceptual battle between the good and evil of human thought.

Thomas Neil is an experiment. He never had a father. He did not even have a sperm donor. Half of his being is in fact not human at all. He is unaware of the fact that he was artificially made. His body is shared by entities with a mind and emotions of their own. These beings exist on a level of reality humanity had previously left undiscovered.

In a time when there was no perception of time, these beings, called the host, were free to move and interact however they pleased. However, circumstances have changed. Science as breached the sacred gap between the biological, metaphysical and supernatural. Due to a series of unfortunate events, the host is now trapped inside Thomas’ body, desperate to preserve Thomas’ life, yet yearning to be free. Thomas, being only half human, is constantly faced with challenges in every-day social settings. When he finally understands his abnormality after being confronted by the host, he strives to overcome his weaknesses and adequately survive with the supernatural energy running through him, and save his life and theirs in the process. 

It's still in progress, but I believe it's a good start. I'm excited with where I'm going to take it. 

Power of the Pointless

"The novel alone could reveal the immense, mysterious power of the pointless. - Milan Kundera

If you seriously consider life, much of what goes on seems pointless. You drop your apple and it bruises. You trip on the third step going to your room. You put chicken on your sandwich instead of turkey. There are hundreds of moments everyday that we hardly bother paying attention to. Novels are about life. It is the intention of the author to give power and purpose to everyday, pointless moments joining together to create a meaningful story.

Small Instances in Time

In a good book, the author plants tiny instances throughout the story that build and grow on each other. At the time that subtle sentence here, that brief paragraph there, may seem insignificant to the reader. We breeze over them without a thought. Later, however, we see them for all their  vitalness to the story. We gasp to ourselves as the story comes together and it all makes sense in the end. We wonder at the brilliance of the author, at the ability to weave those instances so intricately, so beautifully, without us even realizing them, or remembering them, until the story finishes.

Writing Thoughts

"The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof shit detector. This is the writer’s radar and all great writers have had it.”

The writer's purpose is to speak the truth. Our goals is to write so well, people hardly realize they're reading. The words just flow together like a train of thought, like a conversation. The writing literally springs from the ink on the page to the thoughts in your head. It should be done so well that you have to stop and realize you're actually reading and not thinking. This is the essence of beautiful writing. This is writing that impacts people, holds power, is memorable, and might even get published (not that publishing really matters). 

Sometimes writing can be frustrating. It's difficult to transmit thought into written word and back into thought again with smooth, flowing syntax. Like a poor singer, sometimes writer's words are off key, flat or sharp, and the reader doesn't know why the work sounds bad, they just know for some reason it does. This is where the shit detector has to come in. As writer's we need to be humble enough to realize when our words don't sound good, and determined enough to rearrange them until they do. 

A Call

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you."--Maya Angelou

It's no secret I love to write. However, the weight of this love is heavy and almost daunting. Since I was twelve years old, I wanted to write a book. Not just any book. A book that would change people's lives. Over the years I've done my best to smother this desire. I've tried to avoid the idea, reason my way out of it, forget about it, but it just won't leave. I hear names of random people and I think I aught write them down because they would be good for my characters. I come up with mini plot ideas constantly, I look for unusual personality traits in people that would make interesting additions for my characters. I don't do it intentionally, it just happens subconsciously. Especially after watching or listening to something that inspires me, I immediately revert to my book and how I can apply what I'm feeling. I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to write about. Still, I feel as though I must. Do I believe this insatiable need to write is a "special calling" on my life? Honestly, no, I don't. Everybody's "calling" in life is significant in its own way. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, I know my desire to write is real, and I would be an ungrateful coward not to do something about it.

Yet, I'm discouraged because I feel as though what I want to express inside of me is impossible to convert to paper and ink. Sometimes there simply are no words good enough. Yet, I can't abandon my book (even if I wanted to). Someday, I will write. And if I actually do change even one person's life through my writing, I honestly can't take the credit. God didn't put this agony in my heart for my glory.

The Incurable Disease of Writing

Taken from an interview by Paula Byron, found in the Autumn 2003 issue of the Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin.

Hypergraphia—the medical term for an overpowering desire to write.

Certain brain conditions can trigger it, and they all seem to involve the temporal lobes. It was Norman Geschwind [’51] and colleagues who first showed an association between temporal lobe epilepsy and hypergraphia.

Writer's block—all blocked writers share two traits: they don’t write despite being intellectually capable of doing so, and they suffer because they’re not writing. One of the tragedies of block is that it also afflicts unknown people—talented individuals who just disappear from their fields because they stop being able to produce... Also, some blocked writers struggle with critical inner voices. The writer Anne Lamott personified one of these critics as, “the vinegar-lipped Reader Lady, who says primly, ‘Well that’s not very interesting, is it?’” Low doses of atypical dopamine antagonists may quieten those inner voices.

Clearly, though, you don’t have to be sick to be creative. It may be that engaging in creative work not only is a sign of health, but also makes you healthy. The relationship between illness and creativity doesn’t mean we should foster disease. Perhaps we should think of creativity as an adaptive response to difficult situations such as illness...In psychological terms, it seems that drive is more important than talent in producing creative work.