I am struggling
—forcing myself actually
—to get through
Faith of a Writer by Joyce Carol Oats, which is killing me, because I expected to love it. But no. It’s been sitting face down where I left it on my bureau several days ago. When our daughter departed for her stage manager duties for the upcoming school production this evening, and my husband was late coming home, I sighed and picked it up again. Inspiration is the last thing I expected from a book that has been sucking me as dry as a raisin. But then, early on in today's effort, the perfect words appeared. Something good and writing related happened this afternoon
—a teensy victory I’m afraid I’ll jinx if I share too soon. Keep that in mind though, as you read the following quote:
"What advice can an older writer presume to offer to a younger? Only what he or she might wish to have been told years ago. Don’t be discouraged! Don’t cast sidelong glances and compare yourself to others among your peers! (Writing is not a race. No one really “wins.” The satisfaction is in the effort and rarely in the consequent rewards, if there are any. ) And again, write your heart out." Faith of a Writer by Joyce Carol Oats
Nothwithstanding that in my case, we need to swap out the words "older" and "younger" with "experienced" and "inexperienced," here I am folks. Writing my heart out.
Today I received an inkling that, inch by tortoise-loving inch, it might be getting me somewhere.
Whose words inspire you?
