In a brilliant interview in The Paris Review, E. B. White said, “A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.” To allow the seeds of inspiration grow into tiny shoots and push through the soil, like the magnificent miracles they are, you need to metaphorically water them […]
Alan Watts on How to Be a Writer
“Advice? I don’t have advice. Stop aspiring and start writing. If you’re writing, you’re a writer. Write like you’re a goddamn death row inmate and the governor is out of the country and there’s no chance for a pardon. Write like you’re clinging to the edge of a cliff, white knuckles, on your last breath, […]
Poetry | So You Want to Be a Writer ~ Charles Bukowski
How Tai Chi Can Improve Your Writing
Mobilizing and maintaining energy plays a vital part in a writer’s success. The process of writing takes tremendous concentration and perseverance. I have found that Tai Chi exercises can enhance my energy while inducing a pleasant state of relaxation, and help me develop my ability to let my thoughts flow naturally. Relaxation means slowing down […]
8 Ways to Guarantee a Productive Writing Day
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives,” as Annie Dillard so aptly once said. Yet with our days now busier than ever, and demands placed upon us as equally extensive, being able to squeeze as much writing from the limited time we have becomes all the more paramount. Everyone […]
Taoist Teaching, Taoist Practice, Taoist Life
This guest post was written by friend, teacher and incredibly inspiring soul, Kris Deva North, founder of the London Healing Tao Centre, Chi Nei Tsang Institute, and Zen School of Shiatsu. Most people starting out on the Way try to copy someone else, usually their teacher or facilitator. They seek guidance until understanding how to make their […]
Natalie Goldberg on How a Writer Must Say Yes to Life
10 Creative Benefits of Spending Time in Nature
There’s nothing more nourishing than spending time in nature. Nothing that is more nurturing to our spirit and soothing to our soul than being in the natural world. Our creative expression becomes more instinctive when immersed in the stillness of a forest or the invigorating seascape of a beach. Just as creativity is a natural part of […]
Annie Dillard on How Reading Can Inspire Us with Wisdom, Courage, and the Possibility of Meaningfulness
“Why are we reading if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the possibility of meaningfulness, and will press upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so we may feel again their majesty and power? What do we ever know that is […]