And an amen to all of that. This line in particular resonated with me the most:
"You have to try to be consistent, you have to practice constantly, you have to read, and you can’t make yourself be interested in topics you aren’t interested in."
For a long time I tried to make myself be interested in topics because they were "on trend." I'm glad I'm over that uncertain mind frame.
I love the sentiment of accepting the act of making things comes with difficulty – it's not always filled with moments of flow and effortlessness. sometimes it feels like an endless uphill climb to get to a point where it feels like we're gliding
"The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them. The hunt to uncover those jewels — that’s creative living"
"did it on a whim". Love it. Reminds me of these few lines for Emersons' Self-Reliance essay:
"I shun father and mother and wife and brother, when my genius calls me. I would write on the lintels of the door-post, Whim. I hope it is somewhat better than whim at last, but we cannot spend the day in explanation"
I deeply resonated with everything you said here. For the longest time I didn’t think I was a writer because a thousand ideas didn’t come to me at once, because I didn’t take writing classes in college, because having a non writing job can make writing so hard. I recently realized that if I want to write, I’m just going to & that my process can look different and still be perfect for me.
Feels cathartic to read this sentiment put down on paper. Writing is something i love love to do and starting my own substack has been such a joy but sometimes get stuck trying to write to appeal, find that when im in that mindset my writing drains me instead of energizing me, which is the reason i started to do it in the first place. Important to keep reminding urself of why you began in the first place i guess
Also, when I went for it to make a living as a poet, I was lucky enough to realize how much I liked teaching workshops and became a freelance teacher and staff development specialist. I also performed my poems for personal occasions and wrote on commission. From my actual poems... I am working on that right now... what a glorious middle it has been!
And an amen to all of that. This line in particular resonated with me the most:
"You have to try to be consistent, you have to practice constantly, you have to read, and you can’t make yourself be interested in topics you aren’t interested in."
For a long time I tried to make myself be interested in topics because they were "on trend." I'm glad I'm over that uncertain mind frame.
I love the sentiment of accepting the act of making things comes with difficulty – it's not always filled with moments of flow and effortlessness. sometimes it feels like an endless uphill climb to get to a point where it feels like we're gliding
"The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them. The hunt to uncover those jewels — that’s creative living"
"did it on a whim". Love it. Reminds me of these few lines for Emersons' Self-Reliance essay:
"I shun father and mother and wife and brother, when my genius calls me. I would write on the lintels of the door-post, Whim. I hope it is somewhat better than whim at last, but we cannot spend the day in explanation"
Well said!
I deeply resonated with everything you said here. For the longest time I didn’t think I was a writer because a thousand ideas didn’t come to me at once, because I didn’t take writing classes in college, because having a non writing job can make writing so hard. I recently realized that if I want to write, I’m just going to & that my process can look different and still be perfect for me.
needed this - been so stuck on my book-writing this week and feel like pulling my hair out
did you end up finishing that book, by the way?
Feels cathartic to read this sentiment put down on paper. Writing is something i love love to do and starting my own substack has been such a joy but sometimes get stuck trying to write to appeal, find that when im in that mindset my writing drains me instead of energizing me, which is the reason i started to do it in the first place. Important to keep reminding urself of why you began in the first place i guess
Also, when I went for it to make a living as a poet, I was lucky enough to realize how much I liked teaching workshops and became a freelance teacher and staff development specialist. I also performed my poems for personal occasions and wrote on commission. From my actual poems... I am working on that right now... what a glorious middle it has been!
Match maker ads! Nice!