Within every person who feels the urge to write, there is a glowing potentiality. A light. A truth. A voice unlike any other, built from experiences and curiosities entirely unique, with stories no one else can tell. These writers and their lights help me to see hope in the darkness. They illuminate beauty, courage, and Truth. Without their poems, stories, and books, I am lost. We are all lost.
This is why I'm a writing coach. For one, there is a large population that deems creative pursuits impractical. Stories don't put food on the table. Poems won't fund Roth IRAs. Writers can become dejected and exhausted trying to convince themselves and the people in their lives that tinkering away with words between day jobs is as important as going grocery shopping, changing the car's oil, and feeding the dog. They can stop believing in the essentiality of exercising their creativity.
They try and try, but can't feel proud of their work. They can't stop comparing their voice to that of others.
Critiques obliterate them. Rejections send them into a pit of despair. They might be navigating the writing industry's microagressions, macroagressions, racism, sexism, ableism, and more, all while trying valiantly to not lose faith in their voices. That is
hard. Their material gets the best of them. It's too unruly or too painful or too overwhelming. It might seem easier to just let their fire die out.
I am committed to tending to writers' inner fire, keeping it burning bright and warm. We cannot survive this life without it. Literture, art, music -- these are manifestations of soul. They bring us home to ourselves, back to our fallible, feeling human hearts. They teach us how to notice, how to love, and how to live. That is worth protecting.