On Being Ordinary

[Raindrops on my window, taken December 2011]

In

Old Friend from Far Away

, Natalie Goldberg talks about the worth of ordinary lives. How we don't have to be special and exciting people with extraordinary habits in order to write something of value. And, as usual, she says these things in a way that makes me subconsciously reach for a notebook and get started again with renewed hope.

"We need you--the ones who had a cough and your mother or grandfather was there to administer the syrup...

The important thing is to go below the cliches to

touch the texture of your experience

. Your mind is hungry to be alive. You give us that gift by laying down your true mind on the page. We read it and you open up fields of our own imagination." (OFFA, 121).

I'm only twenty-three years old, but I'm afraid of the dark. I love to read. I drink too much coffee. I do not skydive, have an exciting job, or make very much money. But I do have dreams and a lot of thoughts. These things are worth writing.