Two people who write far better than I do, and who also reach a much larger audience responded to my post about the writer’s workshop to let me know they too had applied and did not get into the program they’d applied to–these were kind, generous, encouraging notes. I got another one with a lovely story about being an alternate and in the end, finding out he would get to do what he had applied for. It was a completely life-altering turn in the path for this person.
Then, over the past couple of days, I have been privileged to read some work that just takes my breath away. One is a new book called My Bright Abyss. It is luminous and piercing. I keep stopping along the way, thinking, this, this is why I keep wanting to push with my own writing, this is the kind of reverent way of words I want to follow. In a different way, I found myself wanting to grow up to be like Russell Brand who wrote this piece about Margaret Thatcher. Such mastery of the language — not so much piercing as able to cut through so many layers of myth and wishful thinking. This morning, who moved me was Andrew Sullivan. His blog post made me want to go to a Megachurch and regret not having met someone I thought of with some disdain for years. Finally, there was this piece that has helped me reconsider some of the writing projects I have dreamed of.
The nudges forward come in many different shapes and shades. Today, it is enough, and in fact, more than enough, to receive the gift of beautiful, powerful, amazing words.
New Road Rising 