23 Comments
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Stacy Bronec's avatar

Love all of this, but especially these lines. "And soon it won’t matter if what you write is always great or even good. It just matters that it’s yours."

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Ash Story's avatar

Done. And done. Thank you, Joy. 🙏🏼💖

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erin nolen's avatar

Yes yes yes. Running through the woods as if your life depended on it.

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Kimberly Rothwell's avatar

Love your life enough to write it down 💛💛💛

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Patrick Ramsay's avatar

“You have to love your life enough to write it down.” This line is so clear and true, it shook me a little bit to read it. Now I’m thinking back to all the times I thought I was in the muck of writer’s block, but in reality I just didn’t love the life I was living—didn’t want to document my discontent. Sheeeesh, Joy. Illuminating stuff. Thank goodness for pigeons.

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Andrei Atanasov's avatar

Love this. I read it just after I published my latest essay, but this has been the conclusion I came after some nerve-wrackingly slow writing this week. It’s been hard to sit down to write, but I find that building back the habit of writing every day has made it easier. Here’s my latest post, if you’d like to read it: https://www.practicespace.blog/p/no-19-in-a-routine-rut

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Bob Gillen's avatar

Amen, Joy. I have no magic routine. I post a short story to my blog weekly. A self-imposed deadline. I often wake with writing running through my head. Later it gets typed to Scrivener. It works for me. If there is any magic element, it is having a view out through a window. Greenery and distant trees. Thanks for posting!

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Kristen Ladd's avatar

THIS. Is somehow so validating?? And also inspiring (but no surprise there). So much of my writing happens between 5:30 and 7:00 am in bed🤣 I used to feel like it meant I was lazy but I’ve just learned to roll with it

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Kristen Ladd's avatar

ALSO: “You have to love your life enough to write it down. You have to write at inopportune times, in sometimes unsexy, unstructured ways” 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

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Kate Oliver's avatar

I do the same thing! I write in bed, first thing in the morning, annoyed that I have to get up and pee and break away from the page.

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Bridget Kay Stein's avatar

Just pre ordered your book! ❤️❤️❤️ Can’t wait for April!

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Kierstie Leavitt's avatar

Simply lovely.

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Andrew Lynch's avatar

This resonates. Discipline works until it doesn’t. When it becomes mechanical it’s an imposition.

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Karen Michaels 🦋's avatar

Ohhhh my gosh yeees! So glad I found you on here. ☺️🦋

My day starts at 430-5am in bed writing draft style thought on my phone... I’m actually working on the “back to school so my schedule is better AND harder” post right now.

Hope your 🐈‍⬛ finds fun with her pigeons. 🐦

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Hannah Ashe's avatar

I started my Substack a few days ago because I suddenly felt compelled to write. I kind of hope that means I’ve got to a point where I love my life enough to write it down! I’ve never ever considered myself to be a writer, so I don’t know what’s going on!

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raeshelle leslie's avatar

unsexy & unstructured for one, please!

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Hannah's avatar

As always Joy, your words are a delight to read. Necessary salt indeed. Almost all of the favourite parts of the words I write come to me at the inopportune times & once I realised this & stopped resisting the inconvenience, I found more delight in writing than I’d anticipated. 💛

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