My favorite book on
writing, bar none, is Making a Literary Life, by Elizabeth See. The section she
wrote on rejection is life changing. I wanted to discuss it today, but I’d have
to quote the whole damn thing, and that was way too much copyright
infringement, even for me.
Instead, I’m going to
discuss her chapter on making the magic, going beyond the words on the page,
and into creating the life that makes you shine.
I can’t say it better
than she does, so here it is.
Any philanthropist knows that the more money she gives, the more she’ll get back; any volunteer knows that hour spent in a good cause give us golden time. We all know, at some level, that stinginess doesn’t work.
If you start giving away what you want, you give the universe a nudge – you get the cosmic Jell-O trembling.
So what are you waiting for? The best part of the literary and creative life is giving away what you most want.If you feel you don’t have enough love in your life (no writer, art6ist, human being can exist without love), don’t go around trying to steal it at low bars from impressionable young men and women: Try giving it away, in a blaze of affection, compliments and hugs. Start with your musty old grandma, your lumpy wife, your doltish dad: hugs and compliments- because you have so much love in your bank that you can afford to give it away, lavishly and recklessly.
