By Michel Stone
While on book tour with my first novel, I was given by the
clerk at the wonderful bookstore Blue Bicycle Books in Charleston, SC a t-shirt
that remains one of my favorites. It sports the William Faulkner quote: I write when inspiration hits me.
Fortunately it hits me each day at 10 a.m.
I’m often asked by beginning writers for my ONE PIECE of
advice. They seek the silver bullet to ensure the seemingly magical and elusive
metamorphosis from writer to published writer. After years of my own
ups and down in this writer’s life, I’m certain Faulkner’s adage will remain
true.
My one steadfast piece of advice is this: Write. Without self-discipline and commitment to the
craft, you will not, cannot, be a writer.
When I offer this ostensibly lackluster counsel, I’m invariably met with
half-hearted giggles and disappointed faces, so I tend to follow-up with
additional pearls of wisdom I’ve gleaned over the years. But I always come back
to this: Often
the difference between a published author and a fabulously talented unpublished
author is that the one who got published continued to plod along when the other
writer quit.
I know that pursuing the writer’s life can be frustrating. You are
not alone in your frustration, but take heart, and don’t spend time
worrying about things you cannot control. Keep putting the words on the page in
the way that only you can put them. Keep chugging along if
that’s what you're compelled to do. Sometimes everything feels like a super frustrating
logjam. I know; I’ve been there
countless times. But just when I’ve thrown my hands in the air
in utter exasperation, something gives. I’ve decided something will
always give, but only if I stay the course and keep plodding along. And
yes, at times the writer’s life does feel like plodding. But other times, and I
know you know this because you are a writer, writing is power and freedom and
beauty and magic, and you know, you KNOW, that you are doing what you were
meant to do.
You must remember that the story you want to write won’t get
written if you don’t have the discipline to write it. Know that the universe
offers you everything you need to write the book you want to write and that the
universe’s giving increases exponentially as your dedication to and belief in
the process increases. In other words,
stick to it and the doors will keep opening.
Stop writing and the doors will stop opening. Work creates opportunity and feeds work.
So, go on. Get to your writing desk and make sure
inspiration strikes you, even if you have to throw the first punch.
Michel Stone is
a writer, speaker, educator, and community volunteer. In 2018 she was awarded
the Patricia Winn Award for Southern Literature. Her critically acclaimed
novels Border Child (April 2017, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2017) and The Iguana
Tree (Hub City Press, 2012) have been compared to the writings of John
Steinbeck and both books have been optioned for film. Border Child has been
favorably reviewed by The New Yorker, The San Francisco Chronicle, Charleston
Magazine, The Charlotte Observer, The New York Journal of Books, Kirkus
(starred review) among many others. Stone has published numerous stories and
essays, and she is a 2011 recipient of the South Carolina Fiction Award. She is
a graduate of Clemson University with a Master's Degree from Converse College,
and she is an alumna of the Sewanee Writers Conference. Stone is the immediate
past board chair of the Hub City Writers Project and has served on The
Spartanburg Regional Foundation Board, The Clemson University Humanities
Advancement Board, and as a Trustee of Spartanburg Day School. Stone is a
Spartanburg Regional Fellow and serves on the President’s Advisory Council for
Wofford College. She is a Fellow of the 12th class of the Liberty Fellowship
and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Her first name is
pronounced like Michelle (people always ask!) Her latest book is Border Child.
Her website is https://www.michelstone.com
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