J'aime écrire.

The most amazing [nontangible] gift I have ever received is the ability to write. Not the talent to write, that is not something given but acquired, but knowing how to physically put the pen to paper and formulate ideas on a page. Not only do I find stress relief in actually writing, but the fact that I can go back to at least a year and a half ago and read what I wrote then helps me understand who I am now. Here are a few things I've learned about writing from a few wise writers:
1. screw perfectionism. you will get no where with that.
2. be the person that stays in the room. too many writers get up for a walk or to get coffee or to go to the restroom. they are looking for distractions. be the person that stays in the room.
3. if you write every day, you will get better at writing every day.
4. find a place to write. make it special, but don't make it ridiculous. have a small desk in the corner of the room rather than a grand desk in the middle of the room.
5. drink coffee.
6. edit. have your friends edit. don't be afraid to show people your work. edit. edit. edit.
7. go out and live for a while.
8. read read read. pick up on stylistic devices. pick up on how you want to write. pick up on how you don't want to write.
9. again... if you write every day, you will get better at writing every day.

Start writing today. Even if you don't see yourself as a writer. Just write. It doesn't matter, no one else needs to see it. It is just between you and your notebook. Whatever you write is completely confidential. Trust me, once you start writing about whatever you can, it is much easier to write about whatever you thought you couldn't. And seriously, the best thing that I have gotten from writing is the ability to go back and see what I wrote about the summer following junior year of high school. I find out so much about myself that I might have forgotten but that has always been there. It's easy to find yourself when you keep a log of it. And it does not have to be all deep writing. I have a book, an idea book, filled with quotes and random pictures and just... ideas... that someday I might write about... and when I read what I wrote in there last year for creative writing I remember exactly what I was thinking and I remember exactly who I am and I feel safe and I feel at home. Nothing else in this world [save my actual home] can provide me with this feeling and it is a feeling of such optimism. Such happiness. Hoorayyy, I'm home. I'm at home with myself. I'm at home with me.

Write. Every. Day.

Love,
Hilary