If you don’t follow the words when they come,

If you don’t follow the words when they come,

if you fail to pay attention or

if you think you can find them later or

if you make the mistake of ignoring them or

if you believe they’re unimportant or

if you hope you’ll be able to draw them out of thin air sometime later, 

maybe when you have the time, 

or maybe after dinner, 

or maybe just before you get into bed, or

if you put off writing just because you’re embarrassed 

to stand still in the middle of the sidewalk 

typing on your phone or jotting in your notebook 

as people pass you by 

afraid they’ll think you’re rude 

not to say hello or acknowledge those around you, 

if you don’t follow the words the moment they appear, 

listen, I’m telling you 

they’ll fade into the mist and disappear 

and it’s rare—if ever—that you’ll find them again, 

they’ll desert you in search of someone else prepared 

to hear their call, someone listening with an open heart 

the way you need to listen patiently for days or weeks or months, 

for however long it takes, for the sound you’ve been waiting 

and wanting to hear, and you—

you, the one who couldn’t spare a moment, 

who pretended not to hear anything—

if you don't follow the words when they come,

you’ll be left empty handed with nothing more than 

a faint dream of what might have been 

on the blank page in front of you .

At the edge of a cliff

Every time you 

sit down to write 

it's like standing 

at the edge of a cliff

and you never know 

how you'll make it across 

the abyss without falling 

there's no net 

to catch you, 

no rope to swing from

and each time 

you pick up a pen, 

it's like closing your eyes 

and jumping into the unknown,

never sure you'll make it 

to the other side,

but it's something 

you need to do 

without knowing why

(you can ask yourself 

why for years without

getting an answer),  and

it won't change anything,

every day you still

have to sit down to write, 

and it will feel the same:

standing at the edge of the cliff

waiting for a breeze

a voice

something

to compel you 

to take that step 

into the unknown

to spread your arms 

as if they're wings

and imagine yourself flying

high above the earth

no longer afraid

no longer hesitant

gliding through the air

your pen gliding across the page

no longer tethered to earth

or to fear

free

defying gravity

finding new ways

to be yourself.

Little by little

Little by little

you step into

the waves of

your imagination

the way you wade

into the sea,

hesitant at first,

uncertain what

you'll find,

wanting to go deeper,

not sure you have

the courage to take

the next step

or, once in

(up to your waist),

if you have the courage

to lift your feet off

the sandy floor

and float,

letting the current

take you where

you've never been

before

Reaching for words

Each morning you reach for words 

without knowing where to look 

like a blind man pawing the air 

hoping to find something to hold onto,

something to let you know where you are, 

something to guide you, 

and you keep moving your pen 

hoping the words will come and show 

you the way you need to go, 

even when you don't know where 

to go or if you need to go anywhere.

It's like drilling for oil or searching for water.

You keep searching not knowing if you'll find

what you're looking for, what you're hoping 

to find, so you keep moving your pen

across the page hoping if you write 

enough words you'll discover what you've 

been searching for, hoping the words 

will reveal a path you didn't see before, 

hoping you'll have the strength 

to follow the path.

On Courage

Sometimes we take for granted the courage that it takes to put words on paper day after day, month after month, year after year.

But then a writer like Leslea Newman will share her thoughts on the courage to write and remind us of the important role that courage plays in the writing process.

The author of more than sixty books for children and adults, including Heather Has Two Mommies, A Letter to Harvey Milk, Nobody’s Mother, The Reluctant Daughter, and Out of the Closet And Nothing To Wear, Newman is a poet, novelist, and children's book author who has written courageously about her life and life-style choices. She has received numerous honors for her work, among them the James Baldwin Award for Cultural Achievement, the Highlights for Children Fiction Writing Award, poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and more.

Here’s what she says about courage in a recent interview that I found in the May/Summer, 2011 issue of The Writer’s Chronicle:

I want to get back to the theme of courage–because at the beginning of this interview I said I don’t really think of myself as a courageous person, but why I think you need courage as a writer is that at every step of the way you need the courage to believe you have something to say, you need the courage to make this a priority in your life, because often there are the other people saying you need to get a job, or why are you wasting your time, or whoever’s voice is in your head, so you need courage for that.

And this:

You need the courage to show your writing to someone else, whether it’s people in your writing group, or your spouse, or a potential agent, or a potential magazine editor. So then, you need the courage to keep going when your writing is turned down, as it probably will be–I don’t know any writer who hasn’t had that experience.

And this:

And then, you need the courage once it’s accepted to put it out in the world, and hear what people think of it, you’ll need the courage to live through bad reviews, most likely, or tepid reviews, you’ll need the courage to stand up to people who disagree with you, you’ll need courage in the face of offending people–-every step of the way, you’ll need the inner core of strength, or what we say in Hebrew, "koach" to get you through.

You can find more information about Newman and her work at her website: http://www.lesleanewman.com/

For more interviews on writing, take a look at The Writer's Chronicle: http://www.awpwriter.org/magazine/