Cleansing

The wastebasket is a writer's best friend.  ~Isaac Bashevis Singer

Getting rid of clutter can help my writing or distract me from it. There are days when I need to write, but the pull to procrastinate is so intense, that I find myself thigh-high in cleaning my office rather than knee-deep in a good composition. Maturity and experience have taught me that there is a time to organize and a time to ignore this urge. This weekend is a time to organize. 

I just had a burst of good writing, and the floodgates are open. It is time to discard what I don’t need any more. It feels like I am restoring a river, letting it stream through my world once more. It feels like I am cleansing my writer’s soul.

Toastmasters

If you can speak what you will never hear, if you can write what you will never read, you have done rare things. — Henry David Thoreau

One of my favorite activities each week is Toastmasters. People think it is about speaking, but it is so much more than that. My writing has improved tremendously because of Toastmasters. Not only do I write speeches, but I am learning organizational and listening skills. Meetings are a virtual breeding ground of material. You can check out a meeting for free and it is a lot of fun. 

Rejection

I wrote for twelve years and collected 250 rejection slips before getting any fiction published, so I guess outside reinforcement isn't all that important to me. ~ Lisa Alther

I have been thinking about rejections lately. Author of The Help, Katheryn Stockett, received 60 rejection letters before she found someone to buy her book. (Here is a link if you want to read more about this.) I am not that tenacious. However, if I think about it, I was probably rejected far more than 60 times, if I count every time I didn’t submit something because I rejected it without the work ever leaving my hands. This is the worst rejection of all. When writers reject their own stuff, they are rejected by an unpaid, rank amateur.

Write or Die

Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depth of your heart; confess to yourself you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. 

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

When I don’t write or can’t write, I feel saddled with ennui, but would I die if I were forbidden to write? I don’t think so. Now if I could not read, that might send me to an early death. If I couldn’t read, I could probably thrive listening to NPR or viewing segments of TED.com, but a single power outage would be my demise. This probably explains why Rainer Maria Rilke got where he got and why I am sitting here writing insignificant blog entries.

For some inspiring diversion, check out TED.com