Day 28: Thanks for Words

For Americans, today is Thanksgiving. That means food, football (not for me,) counting our blessings and thanking God for the good things in our lives.

There are the usual things to be thankful for of course, friends, family, good food, and hopefully the day off. But at least take a moment to think of all the things we have to be thankful for as writers:

Books, libraries, book stores, bargain books, new books, old books…

All the words you wrote this month, in fact all the words you’ve ever written

All of your ideas, the big ones, small ones, bad ones, really good ones, all of them

Every person you’ve met, talked to, or seen this year. You never know who’s going to inspire your next character.

Any advice you’ve gotten this year on writing.

All the criticism that nearly broke your heart; It made you a stronger writer.

Any rejections you’ve had, this too has helped you work harder at your writing.

All the good things people have said about your writing.

Every funny, embarrassing, awful, delightful, and boring moment you’ve experienced, seen, or heard about. It’s all fuel: hoard it.

Everything you’ve learned this year, on any subject.

All the places you been, fantastic places, boring places, strange places; Ordinary places that you’ve been to a thousand times.

Pens, pencils, paper, printers, keyboards, chalk, sand, and thing else you’ve ever used to write record words

Words: All the words you’ve ever heard, or read, or made up.

There is so much that goes into our writing that we take for granted. Do you know that as a homeschooler I have no idea what attending a high school would really be like? I could, however, tell you about canning peaches or about the scent of wood smoke when it’s so cold the snow sounds dry when you walk across it. I could tell you about doing my math under a tree, or watching a calf be born.

What is normal and boring for you isn’t so for everyone. The world is a big place and everyone is living different lives. Sometimes I think that’s all people mean when they say ‘write what you know’ you can make up all kinds of things but don’t forget to use bits of things around you. The world is full of things we can use in our writing, we just have to look, really look, around for them.

Take time to appreciate, and give thanks for, everything that fuels your writing; the things we concisely draw from and the things that we aren’t even aware of being an influence.

Thanks for reading,
~Rita