In order to teach you must first learn. In order to lead you must first follow. - Brad
I can remember the very first time I felt inspired to write. I was in my College Freshman English class and we were offered the opportunity to write about anything we wanted. I had not even considered that in the past. Writing was done to complete an assignment as quickly and concisely as possible, and then padded to reach the minimum acceptable word or page count assigned. Why would I "want" to write about anything?
What I wrote about was my childhood frustration of being compared to the local (in the opinion of my mother) golden child of the neighborhood. As I began to compose my thoughts I found that they easily flowed to the page and quickly outstripped the required length, yet I could not stop. The story seemed to have control of my hand and was refusing to be edited to fit within defined boundaries. Somehow I was able to come skidding into a furious conclusion some five pages and 30 minutes later, just as our allocated time drew to a close. I can still remember the confounded feeling I had as I meekly asked the teacher if she had a stapler I might use before I dropped my paper onto the pile of single paged compositions already in her basket.
When I walked into class the following week the teacher pulled me aside and asked if she could read my paper to the class. She said I had a unique talent in sharing my feelings in an authentic and honest manner. To this day it is one of the watershed moments of my life. It is a point in time where I can honestly say that I moved from being a child, programmed for compliance, to an adult with something to share. We are talking about writing here, but in reality that moment was a paradigm shift in self confidence for me. To the teacher it was another discussion, on another day, just doing her job. To me the world changed. Remember that when you deal with young people. Your words of encouragement may be the ones that set them on the path towards fulfillment... or they could do permanent harm. Be careful, show grace and share optimism. You might be the difference in someones life, TODAY.
Shelia Mullican On Writing
Oz Hillman on getting started
If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me…Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got. - Stephen Pressfield
