So You Want to Be a Writer

by charles bukowski

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

Yellow Rage

one word: Wow!

Def Poetry Jam

Youth for Christ

I arrived yesterday in California and have been trying to settle in. As of June 1st, there will be six women living in the Youth for Christ mission house. Supper last night was eaten at a Mexican restaurant with Tana, Kenny, and Marvin. Marvin will be my supervisor for the summer and Kenny is his wingman. Kenny and I are attending UYWI National Conference this weekend (UYWI stands for Urban Youth Workers Institute). From the information on the website, this conference is going to be amazing!! The variety of workshops is incredible and though tired from travel yesterday, I am ready to learn.

God,
I continue to commit this summer to you. Through all my doubts and intellectual struggles, I know you have something great planned for this summer. I am ready to be a part of it. At the conference this weekend, I commit every moment to you. Teach me what it is I need to learn, what it is that you need me to learn. May this summer by a time of stretching in which you grow me to become a more passionate, people loving, grace giving, incarnational version of you.

freedom of speech

While speaking with friends who write for the school newspaper, the discussion of censorship arose. Because it is a school-sponsored newspaper, opinions or views that could reflect negatively on the school are not heard. I am tempted to start a one page underground bulletin which highlights student written work about anything and everything. The bulletin would contain a short intro paragraph and the rest of the articles could be found online. The major obstacle would be finding authors who would commit to writing on a consistent basis.....

Displace Me 2007

It was amazing in the "open your eyes and see reality" sense of the word amazing. To spend a night sleeping in cardboard huts with about 5,000 other people boggles my mind. My little cardboard hut was graciously attached to that of the basketball girls (Rachel and Dani), Danielle, and Laura. It was great to have people who let me be a part of their little group. The evening was spent through simulation exercises. Did you know that women ages 18-22 must walk with jugs on their heads a length of two miles to retrieve water? And that men gather the food for the family? Just some interesting facts...for those interested in activism, Schools 4 Schools is a great way to become involved with Invisible Children.