WORDS ARE POWERFUL
I don’t know how many documents I have with quotes from writers, speakers, friends, ads, and books. I write them down because writing and reading them helps me to remember them. Words inspire me to find ways to take action, teach me new ways of looking at a problem.
Or they help me take action- do a GOYA- Do you know G.O.Y.A.?
STUCK IN MY OWN THOUGHTS
I haven’t done a lot of creative writing lately, I’ve made medical lists, and holiday card lists, gift to-do lists. But beyond lists or short Great Idea! notes in my Snippets book, waiting to be expanded- nothing. nada, none, no, nyet. Guilt was starting to set in. Which can lead to rationalization, avoidance, and inertia.
SHARED LAMENTS
A writing colleague lamented, “Am I a writer if I don’t write every day?”
And I heard Harriet Halpern’s voice from my past at a Montclair Write Group meeting. “You are a writer if you say you are.”
It’s a line I’ve used with young writers, really young, think 7, 8, 9-year-olds. It’s a quote I have used in classes with college students, and senior citizens.
“You are a writer, it you say you are.”
As words often do, they came at just the right time.
And here it was flashing on and off in my mind like the flash on my phone when messages come in. This one’s for you, Eth. YES! I am still a writer.
MAYA ANGELOU TO THE RESCUE
“Writing doesn’t have to be only a small part of your day, even if your situation only allows for a few select minutes of actual writing. Try to keep writing a large part of your day by using methods like the following: daydream about your story, your world, or jot down ideas on notepads when they come. Think of writing as exercise, as eating food, as listening to music. Make it as big a part of your day, every day, as you can.”
At our ETWR meeting, I got this blog done, a follow-up blog ready for tomorrow. I also I did refine a holiday card list. DONE.
I am a writer!
Ethel Lee-Miller blogs regularly about people, the power of words, and her writing life. She retired after 30 years of teaching, and semi-retired from coaching, and professional editing. Founder of the Eastside Tucson Writing Room based in Tucson AZ, she’s posted 100s of blogs, and is the author of Thinking of Miller Place, and Seedlings, Stories of Relationships. These days she writes to inspire, to connect with folks, teaching about the power of words, gather writers together, and for the pure enjoyment of it. Ethel enjoys teaching, speaking, and storytelling at Odyssey Storytelling, Artists Standing Strong Together, Tucson Tellers of Tales Center for Spiritual Living Tucson, and anywhere there’s a mic or a Zoom room.