Talk When You Talk, Walk When You

This Is The Practice School Of Writing. Like Running, The More You Do It, The Better You Get At It. Some Days You Don't Want To Run And You Resist Every Step Of The Three Miles, But You Do It Anyway. You Practice Whether You Want To Or Not. You Don't Wait Around For Inspiration And A Deep Desire To Run ... That's How Writing Is Too ... One Of The Main Aims In Writing Practice Is To Learn To Trust Your Own Mind And Body; To Grow Patient And Nonaggressive.

Let's Say I've Directed That [writing] Energy Into Writing My Latest Book But Suddenly, I Really Want To Write About An Onion. I Don't Say To Myself, "no, You Have Stay On The Subject," Because I Know That The Longer I Stay On The Subject The More Boring I Get. So, If My Mind Wants To Write About An Onion, It Might Be A Deeper Way To Go Into What I'm Working On, Even Though It Might Seem Irrelevant. This Is How I've Learned To Follow My Mind.

[t]he One Thing I Want For You Is To Recognize When You Are Really Singing In Writing Practice And Honor That. Trust That. When You Were Screaming On The Page. Maybe That Doesn't Make A Whole Book But That Is The True Seed.

Really You Don't Need More Information. If You've Lived Twenty Years, You Probably Have Enough Material For The Rest Of Your Life

Use Loneliness. Its Ache Creates Urgency To Reconnect With The World. Take That Aching And Use It To Propel You Deeper Into Your Need For Expression - To Speak, To Say Who You Are.