The Sacred Middle
  • Blog
  • About
  • Stay in Touch



Writing Is An Act of Surrender

11/13/2012

Comments

 
To write means to leave everything behind. People, places, things. Most definitely things. Writing is a depressing kind of happy.

It's when you're driving and daydreaming about all the stuff you wish you had and you could really see yourself in a Jag, but you know there's no way in hell that's going to happen. Unless you're the 1% of writers who actually make that kind of money. So you start wondering if maybe the writing life was the wrong path. That's the depressing part.

But then you get home, it's quiet and the dog is snuggled in your lap, you're sipping on green tea and writing profusely and you realize there's nothing else you'd rather do. There's nowhere else you'd rather be. That's the happy part, and it far outweighs the sadness.

In Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer's Craft Natalie Goldberg writes, 

"Know that you will eventually have to leave everything behind; the writing will demand it of you.     Bareboned, you are on the path with no markers, only the skulls of those who never made it back.

"Now that you have been warned, let me also say this: if you want to know what you're made of, if you want to stand on death's dark face and leave behind the weary yellow coat of yourself, then just now - I hear it - the heavy wooden doors of the cloister of no return are cracking open. Please enter."

The path with no markers, nothing is guaranteed. Not fame, not money, not love, not the house you always dreamed of. Maybe not even joy, but always happiness, even if in the little moments that keep you writing for the rest of your life. 

Are you leaving it all behind?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus
    Picture
    Picture
    Follow on Bloglovin
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    ​Hello! I'm Cassandra, an American ex-pat living in the Philippines, writer, ballerina, and lover of all things magickal. I blog about happiness, self-love, and magical dream-life living.
    Picture
    Picture

    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.