Writing Can Teach Us The Dignity Of

In The Past Few Years I've Assigned Books To Be Read Before A Student Attends One Of My Weeklong Seminars. I Have Been Astonished By How Few People -- People Who Supposedly Want To Write -- Read Books, And If They Read Them, How Little They Examine Them.

You Don't Need To Go To A Therapist, You Don't Need To Do All Kinds Of Things. If You Want To Write, You Physically Have To Do It.

We Have To Accept Ourselves In Order To Write. Now None Of Us Does That Fully: Few Of Us Do It Even Halfway. Don’t Wait For One Hundred Percent Acceptance Of Yourself Before You Write, Or Even Eight Percent Acceptance. Just Write. The Process Of Writing Is An Activity That Teaches Us About Acceptance.

We Always Worry That We Are Copying Someone Else, That We Don't Have Our Own Style. Don't Worry. Writing Is A Communal Act. Contrary To Popular Belief, A Writer Is Not Prometheus Alone On A Hill Full Of Fire. We Are Very Arrogant To Think We Alone Have A Totally Original Mind. We Are Carried On The Backs Of All The Writers Who Came Before Us. We Live In The Present With All The History, Ideas, And Soda Pop Of This Time. It All Gets Mixed Up In Our Writing.

Keep Your Hand Moving