17 Comments

"[W]riters are born with a head full of ghosts."

This line is so metal and this article was a welcomed dose of beauty to my day.

Expand full comment

This is absolutely the first and only time that anyone has ever described anything I've said as "metal", and I take it as the highest compliment! 😂

Expand full comment

"If you’re smart, you’ll let her play, knowing that life will teach her better than you can. Knowing that God is reaching up for her through the words trapped in her pencil, in her childlike scrawl. He is whispering to her."

Sound advice for raising a child in general and for whatever craft or skill they choose to explore. Let it play out.

Expand full comment

Absolutely! Exploration is so key to growth, whether you're 3 years old or 93 years old. May we never stop playing. ✨

Expand full comment

Yes, I thought that, too! :-)

Expand full comment

“If you’re smart, you’ll let her play, knowing that life will teach her better than you can.”

Boom 🤯

Expand full comment

Dang it. In the words of Andy Dwyer, “I’m not crying. I’m just allergic to jerks.” Thank you for being a jerk. Jerk.

Expand full comment

You're absolutely welcome. 😁

Expand full comment

Yes, this. This is how a writer is born, how they grow, and how they live.

With Ghosts and characters and stories that come from out of nowhere.

Stories that they have to tell or they feel like they'll die.

Expand full comment

💯💯💯

Expand full comment

I was a lucky little lad. My parents threw seven wooden letter blocks in my direction. I picked them up and after a few minutes, I was able to spell S-U-B-S-T-A-C-K with the blocks. The rest is history...

Expand full comment

Ha! See, it was eight blocks. I'm terrible at math, hence the writing!

Expand full comment

Ohhhhh my newly unlocked inner child is dancing like the shameless freak show she is. Might read this daily as a meditation. My god. Thank you. And thank you on behalf of my daughter. Passing this along 💛💛💛

Expand full comment

Beautiful! I think you called it an ode up at the top, and it is. Dang it! Who moved the Kleenex box again! 😅

Expand full comment

I love the ghosts dancing in a writer's mind. Some of those ghosts are only shadows waiting to fill up with substance. At long last, they do and emerge with surprises. And the mother will be afraid, will try to exorcise them, but will fail. That is the most painful rejection of all. But the need to write will prevail.

Expand full comment

This explains a lot in all of the wide range of independent fiction that I have come to of late, coupled with a changing perspective of advancing grayness. Thank you for choosing to share.

Expand full comment

This is absolutely lovely 🥰

Expand full comment