To be a better writer, be childlike. See the world with wonder and joy. Laugh. Be delighted by small things. Look for beauty and extraordinary in the ordinary: the shape of clouds, a woman and her “slightly” overweight bulldog, the routine of walking to the mailbox and back.
hope
Big, Hairy, Audacious Prayers
Big, hairy, audacious goals (BHAGs) don’t tend to frighten me. The bigger and hairier the goal, the better. I like challenges. I’m maybe a little competitive and more than a little stubb—determined. Yes, determined. Strategic. I like to come up with a plan to accomplish the goal.
Do One Thing
Do one thing today, even if it’s something small like washing the dishes or sweeping the floor. – Write Right
Waiting for Ravens
The word of the Lord came to him [Elijah], saying, “Go hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.”
So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
1 Kings 17:2-7, NASB
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Hope for the Hopeless
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.
Psalm 42:5, NASB
How to Overcome Discouragement
A writer is not a writer because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, or because everything she does is golden. A writer is a writer because, even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway. — Junot Diaz