From today’s newsletter.
July 29, 2019
If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.
Nora Roberts
Dear Writers,
This week while not writing, I stumbled on The Crane Wife, in the Paris Review.
If you have some time, read it. It’s about love. And self worth.
And the compromises we make.
It’s about making do with less, when we should be asking for more.
It’s about living for a long time without being seen. And it’s also about finally speaking up–and living the life you deserve and want.
Does any of that resonate?
It definitely resonated for me.
Asking for more–for what we want–can be hard, whether we’re talking about relationships. Or writing. It is so much easier to feel unworthy. To hide. To not reach. To not ask. To hope that somehow, you will get what you want.
But every week, I remind myself: REACHING IS MANDATORY.
ASKING is how we get.
And when it comes to writing, that audacious, bold, scary step can be the one that helps you find the confidence to find the story. It can be what connects you to character. And voice.
Are you ready to stretch? To dream big. Are you ready to believe in yourself?
And not be afraid to ask for more?
I agree with Robert Olen Butler’s theory that stories are written from and emerge from a white hot center, or in other words, a subconscious state where dreams are made–where our fears are peeled away–and we are free to ask for more.
Butler advises artists never to flinch while staring down their demons.
That’s not easy.
Because when we do, we are vulnerable. But it is that vulnerability that raises the stakes for your story and no coincidence, your writing life.
So today, take a moment to journal. (with a pencil.) Remember a time when you asked for more. When you had the audacity to demand it.
Find that center. Poke at it. Tend it. Make it burn. Apply this to your character.
If you ask for MORE from your writing day, you will get it. GO ON. DREAM IT.
Then have a FANTASTIC writing week!
You deserve it.
Sarah