Be Kind First

You may think it is important to be disciplined. You may think it is important to get your butt in the chair. You may think it is important to wake up an hour earlier, to turn off your cell phone and your Internet. All these things are important. A book will not get written if you don’t write. A book will not get written if you do not create an environment where your imagination can focus on one single story. But it is still more important to be kind. You are the boss and the employee. You will not work for yourself if you are cruel and demanding. Yet how easy it is to disregard kindness, this grandmother of virtues. How passive it appears, how reliable yet uncreative. Kindness is hard work’s reward, the peace you’ve earned once the unkind world of creation’s uncertainty has been tamed. The publishing world does not always appear so kind, after all. The publishing world has as many No’s in its quiver as there are manuscripts in the air.

But kindness is the soil from which creation grows. Kindness is trust in action. No wonder it seems so gentle, so receptive, for trust accepts no resistance. Kindness is the love you give yourself first, not last, the love you give without proof that a day’s work is worthy of reward. Be kind first, and the discipline of daily work will follow. Be kind first, and in the peace that kindness brings your imagination will find the focus it needs to give you what you desire. Be kind first, and you will have kindness to share with the world, rather than a plea for kindness from a world you feel is unworthy of your trust.

Write Within Yourself: An Author's Companion. "A book to keep nearby whenever your writer's spirit needs feeding." Deb Caletti.

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