Gleanings, on the road

I will be on the road when this posts tomorrow, returning from the Novelists Inc. conference in St. Petersburg Beach. The major gleaning from the conference is that the people who are the most successful in their careers and life are those who love what they do and are the most generous. As we give, we truly do receive. The second strong gleaning is that we writers are no longer at the mercy of big publishers’ opinions and power. The sun is fully up on the day of self-publishing, and it is exciting.

Rhetoric isn’t just the province of the Latin teacher and the debater but the province of every writer who wants to craft her measure of truth, beauty, and goodness. ~ Eric Maisel, Living the Writer’s Life

That is my goal: to give to others, and to myself, all I can of the truth, beauty, and goodness that I have found in books. This means writing. No matter how you publish, or don’t publish as you choose, a writer must write. It is the first duty.

Do I want to write because that is how I want to spend my precious time? ~ Jasmine Cresswell, novelist.

This is what each writer, most especially a novelist, must answer for herself. But wanting not to spend hours in the chair does not mean you are not a writer. It simply means that you must adjust yourself and your writing. It is never all or nothing. There is a place in this world for each of us, a particular place just right for our inclinations and talents.