Friday, January 18, 2013

Jan 19 Tip: Read "You Must Revise Your Life"

January 19 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Read William Stafford's essays in "You Must Revise Your Life"

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/437156.You_Must_Revise_Your_Life

If you want to better understand how William Stafford approaches writing, this book may help with that. Through a combination of essays, poetry and interviews, Stafford presents  a kind of philosophy of writing, including his approach to helping others find their own voice. His poem,  "Every Morning All Over Again" sums up his process beautifully:

Every Morning All Over Again

Only the world guides me.
Weather pushes, or when it entices
I follow. Some kind of magnetism
turns me when I am walking
in the woods with no intentions.

There are leadings without any
reason, but they attract;
if I find there is nothing to gain
from them, I still follow—their power
is the power of the surrounding world.

But things that promise, or those
that will serve my purposes—they
interfere with the pure wind
from nowhere that sustains a kite,
or a gull, or a free spirit.

So, afloat again every morning,
I find the current: all the best
rivers have secret channels that
you have to find by whispering
like this, and then hear them and follow

— William Stafford


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