Aspirant Writer’s Credo

By Michelle Fajkus, as inspired by Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones


1. The notion of a blank page is daunting until the moment you sit down and write on it.
2. Begin with or without an end in mind. Just begin.
3. Refuse to think that you have nothing valid to say.
4. Writing is a way to make sense of life.
5. Writing is one continuous, tangential discourse with your self.
6. Face it: everything is autobiographical.
7. Use luscious vocabulary without being histrionic, pedantic or esoteric.
8. Cultivate a singular obsession with harvesting masses of gooey sentences and bountiful paragraphs.
9. Good writing is relatable yet original.
10. In the physical act of writing, you have no choice but to be present.
11. When reading good writing, the reader has no desire but to be present.
12. No one ever wrote a masterpiece first draft.
13. Joy is in the journey, and there is no destination.