A salute to writers

​‘I admire anybody who has the guts to write anything at all.’ – E.B. White

Writing is hard sometimes. I know this, because I’m a writer too. Some days the words flow; some days I get in my own way.

I wrote the following piece years ago, after working with an author who was having a really hard time. 

You write, though you haven’t the time.
You write, though you haven’t the energy.
You write, though you haven’t the confidence.
You write, though you haven’t a chance (you fear).

You write, though others don’t see your vision.
You write, though you can’t be Hemingway.
You write, though you open yourself to criticism.
You write, though you may not reach The End.

You write, though the words fight back.
You write, though the muse is elusive.
You write, though you itch to censor.
You write, though your last book bombed.

You write, though it exhausts you.
You write, though it haunts you.
You write, though it terrifies you.
You write, though you bleed.

You write
Because it’s all you can do
With a head that thinks prose
And a heart that beats poetry;
You write, because no matter the struggle
You are a writer.

Be kind to yourself, fellow writer, and kind to other writers too. We’re all sitting at typewriters and bleeding.* 

With my best wishes,

* ​‘It is easy to write. Just sit in front of your typewriter and bleed.’ – Ernest Hemingway

​PS: I don’t like the second stanza of this poem. I nearly rewrote it. Then I remembered: once you've shipped your work, leave it at sea. Going back and rewriting something you wrote years ago isn’t a) productive or b) kind.