influence

Life got crazy busy, and since I'm heading out of town next week I'm taking a couple weeks off. I'll see you somewhere in the last half of June.

For your entertainment I'll leave you with this link. Be prepared, you could spend a bit of time there.  It's a series where authors talk about their favorite literary passages and how those influenced their own writing. It's quite fascinating really.

One of my favorite passages is from Anna Karenina. It's the chapter where Levin harvests grain with the peasants. It's been years since I read it but I remember thinking how beautiful and uplifting it was. I'm a much different person now so I don't know if I would feel the same way if I read it now, which is why I'm a little afraid to read it again.  

Do you have any favorite passages that have influenced you?

Flying

You've got to jump off cliffs--and build your wings on the way down.

Ray Bradbury.

This is a scary quote. Scary because, well, it's true. Birds learn to fly by jumping, or being pushed, out of the nest. 

Sometimes we need to leap. We learn how by doing. Sometimes we may crash.

But sometimes we will fly.

IWSG

I’m not officially a part of the Insecure Writers Support Group but I’m full of insecurities right now. Full of “what if” and more importantly, “What if I can’t…” 

Some days I cope with them well. Some days I don’t. the important thing is just to keep on keeping on. As long as I keep fighting, I’ll stay afloat. Hopefully. But I know if I give up I’ll sink immediately, and I can’t accept that. So there really is no other option.

Like Dori said: just keep swimming.

That movie had a happy ending, right?