Keep Writing

What were the most encouraging words someone ever said that pushed you into doing what you love doing now?

The words that keep ringing in my ears right now are: 

 

Yet, they were not even said to me directly. They were scrawled by my professor on the title page of my typewritten script for our playwriting class.

These two words were more than medals or plaques of merit. For me, they meant I had something going there and that I should pursue it.

I did not pursue writing right away—not in the way I have been relentlessly at it in the last 16 years. But I remember those words each time a reader sends me an encouraging message or a note with words so close to "Keep writing!"

Today, these have evolved into a nagging reminder for me to read and hear to stoke the writing ember that can die with the onslaught of modern concerns.

This has been a killer week. I had not had enough time to write everything I have in my head for a book that's due in March.

My blog rhythm has been compromised (16 hours late), too. Just as I get ready to write, something pops up. Or just when I am immersed in a paragraph, something tumbles down my lap.

"Keep writing!"

I should, I really should. Ooops, my phone's ringing.