big-magic-elizabeth-gilbert2

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casually mentioned in a letter thatshe had recently begun working ona new novel, and that it was aboutthe Amazon jungle.For obvious reasons, that caughtmy attention.I wrote back and asked Annwhat her novel was about, morespecifically. I explained that I, too,had been working on an Amazonjungle novel, but that mine hadgotten away from me because I’dneglected it (a state of affairs that Iknew she would understand). In hernext letter, Ann replied that it wastoo soon yet to know precisely whather jungle novel was about. Early
days, still. The story was just takingshape. She would keep me informedas it all evolved.The following February, Annand I met in person for only thesecond time in our lives. We wereto appear together onstage at anevent in Portland, Oregon. Themorning of our appearance, weshared breakfast in the hotel’s café.Ann told me that she was now deepinto the writing of her new book—more than a hundred pages in.I said, “Okay, now you really dohave to tell me what your Amazonnovel is about. I’ve been dying toknow.”
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Also by Elizabeth GilbertPilgrimsSt
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Trustees of the Estate of the late
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This one’s for you, Rayya
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ContentsTitle PageCopyrightDedicati
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Courage
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Pittsburgh in 1925 and grew up inth
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People were crazy about him. Hecoul
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by the publication of somethingsubl
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furnace of this world.”)He and I
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their lives to be.I never met Jack
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He smiled at the girl withinfinite
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both for its own amusement and foro
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people swing for the bleachers.)No,
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soul-searching, the way one does on
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perhaps, because now, as an adult,s
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transcendence while she is stillher
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courage, let’s try to get you som
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taken seriously.You’re afraid you
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good measure.)You’re afraid of be
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ever go well again.You’re afraid
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earliest memories.Growing up, I was
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indoors, snuggled on my mother’sl
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Afraid of the snow? Time to goshove
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Fear Is BoringOver the years, I’v
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emphatic word, repeated at fullvolu
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Do you see what I mean? You don’t
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The Fear YouNeed and the FearYou Do
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you would lead a short, crazy,stupi
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bloody, horrible death. Basically,y
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without fear marching rightalongsid
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life, and that you take your jobser
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Then we head off together—meand c
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Page 72 and 73: An Idea ArrivesNow that we’re don
Page 74 and 75: government got a notion to build ag
Page 76 and 77: discovered to their horror that the
Page 78 and 79: throughout history) that I believe
Page 80 and 81: With all due respect, I disagree.I
Page 82 and 83: into the world, the idea will payyo
Page 84 and 85: buzzy thoughts, that feeling offall
Page 86 and 87: inspiration’s invitation out ofla
Page 88 and 89: saying no, no, no, no, no.Then agai
Page 90 and 91: You will find no shortage of rolemo
Page 92 and 93: you die, so if you prefer a short l
Page 94 and 95: living your most creative life, wit
Page 96 and 97: intriguing and worthwhile. You canl
Page 98 and 99: hands on it, so to speak. I promise
Page 100 and 101: Minnesota. She’s a spinster whoha
Page 102 and 103: I decided I would call the novelEve
Page 104 and 105: entire life immediately and go join
Page 106 and 107: I’m forever grateful to that book
Page 108 and 109: gone missing. What I mean is thatth
Page 110 and 111: than two years. What was the ideasu
Page 112 and 113: and catch the next idea that comesa
Page 114 and 115: his should be the end of my AmazonT
Page 116 and 117: I thought, My goodness! She’s som
Page 118 and 119: stood. But what she did next waswon
Page 122 and 123: “You go first,” she said, “si
Page 124 and 125: married boss for many years. Hegets
Page 126 and 127: pharmaceutical industry. But othert
Page 128 and 129: that Ann Patchett had stolen myidea
Page 130 and 131: that’s why you’ll never be grea
Page 132 and 133: seek the swiftest and most efficien
Page 134 and 135: cultivated, or had never gottenarou
Page 136 and 137: consciousness, I didn’t let it ou
Page 138 and 139: hearing this was one of sheer relie
Page 140 and 141: nonchalant about losing those ideas
Page 142 and 143: same scientific conclusions at thes
Page 144 and 145: looks like inspiration hedging itsb
Page 146 and 147: because—I promise—if you showup
Page 148 and 149: when the poem reached her andpassed
Page 150 and 151: Hard Labor vs.Fairy DustIbelieve in
Page 152 and 153: powerful and generous—and thatsom
Page 154 and 155: and who sometimes aided you inyour
Page 156 and 157: Pinned Beneaththe BoulderIthink soc
Page 158 and 159: lose the ability to take themselves
Page 160 and 161: speak about this predicament frompe
Page 162 and 163: But what does any of that have todo
Page 164 and 165: a lost early manuscript of hers was
Page 166 and 167: Does it seem sacrilegious evento su
Page 168 and 169: even working for a bunch ofdifferen
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critic, tellingly, described it as
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sometimes like my genius sits in th
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grace or not, I thank creativity fo
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read State of Wonder knows fullwell
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live in a most remarkable world,thi
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admittedly.I cannot think of a bett
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IRemove theSuggestion Boxdidn’t g
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school board, volunteered at thelib
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When my father grew curiousabout th
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that you remove the suggestionbox.I
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when it comes to the business ofcre
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assertion that gave me the idea tha
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ere’s what I’m getting at, dear
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the original people who watchedthe
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doesn’t, though. Some acts ofarti
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interesting and the novel.And inspi
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problem-solvers, and embellishers
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Ihave a neighbor who gets tattoos a
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a short while, so I decided a longt
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Because it’s all just temporary.E
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Without this arrogance of belonging
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like this: “Who the hell do you t
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what I am, but I’mcurious enough
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what the outcome, and no matterhow
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See?Now you’re the one doing thet
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said, “We have learned nothing in
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MotivesOh, and here’s another thi
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burden, rather than to save orrelie
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this book for my own pleasure,becau
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It’s okay if your work is fun for
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to have received what I consider to
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Four of them never even got pasthig
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On one hand, I completelyunderstand
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because debt will always be theabat
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a few years of creative study—hes
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schooling in the arts withoutrealiz
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means; I am merely againstcrippling
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learned along the way.If you are a
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things. We need you to reveal to us
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walls of museums; they live inrecor
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education, but never put it intopra
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work every shift, save all mymoney,
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rejected, rejected, rejected,reject
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straight back out into the universe
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awareness I held that I had chosen
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one another carefully, therebyprecl
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out his heart in this letter,compla
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hung it over his desk, as well hesh
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to stop complaining if you want tol
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elsewhere.”I have felt this pheno
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actually mean it.For one thing, it
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talents and abilities? Sure, we can
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then, okay? It will only weigh youd
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It doesn’t matter in the least. L
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point: I’ve published six books
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—nobody reads my books.”Over tw
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other people should not. If I amall
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suppose, she needed to. (It mayhave
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art.Then stubbornly continue making
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so seriously, because—in the fina
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smooth maintenance of the humancomm
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essential or inescapable (food,shel
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Nigeria, or a radical filmmakerunde
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Maybe I won’t always besuccessful
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anyone who was so articulate andwis
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already in the van! You have fivemi
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noticed that his children felt full
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big a deal. He told me, “I realiz
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Otherwise, what’s the point ofhav
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future of humanity depends upon myg
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Persistence
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happen. I retreated to my bedroomon
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for any external rewards for mydevo
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close to it. On bad days, when I fe
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a Southern gothic novelist, because
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day, or studying auto mechanicsever
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Square back in the day. She was afu
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expanding, as if my mind werebeing
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because NYU had granted me adiploma
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for a project just a few weeks afte
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with us—then I could usually gett
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The ShitSandwichBack in my early tw
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the work. Frustration is not aninte
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effects. As Manson writes withprofo
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If you truly want to see theworld,
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Your Day JobThe whole time I waspra
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years, I have watched so many other
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it’s dangerous to be childish.)Ot
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for a while to save up money untili
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me they’re quitting their day job
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wrote in her spare hours. That’sw
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but an ox. The ox had twohandsome h
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made. Most individuals have neverha
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stretch of time in which to create(
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rarely exists here on earth.Melvill
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(If anything, the fact that they ha
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plans for your future organicmushro
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princely, thus attracting ideas and
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dresses like a gentleman, every one
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creativity, and I make an effort to
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because the work never came out ont
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yourself from participation because
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even worse, it often stops peoplefr
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believe, hold themselves to an even
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good enough for the task, somehowgr
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Beethoven’s symphonies a little b
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do? How am I getting in my ownway?
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remain sane. Possessing a creativem
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we forget to eat, forget to pee,for
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forth will destroy you.”—Gospel
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She said: “We all spend ourtwenti
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everyone is too busy fussing overth
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it! I just promised the universe th
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it came to everything from washingt
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In Praise ofCrooked HousesIcould si
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her—that I did not get this chara
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house and completely starting overb
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Rivers did not run backward. Birdsd
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perfect thing, but I still felt it
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always believed in magicalthinking,
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lives, and then gives a Mercedes to
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nothing in realms of creativity.(No
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that I have always discouragedpeopl
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may be the only sanity-preservingwa
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will stubbornly keep trying to make
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purchased a tape recording of somee
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Jones tape, just to see what wouldh
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ready for war. It was as if we’db
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catch hold of that sensation(“cal
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boilerplate rejection letter with a
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its self-addressed stampedenvelope
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wait to publish it.“You even like
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be “This is unequivocal evidencet
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after a certain point—even theani
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little different every day, just as
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So you must keep trying. Youmust ke
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same themes. The only difference is
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is short and should be enjoyed. You
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Trust
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The first question is: “Do youlov
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people have lost that sense ofconve
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So Robin always begins rightthere.
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of them report that writing is tota
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Addicted toSufferingAre you beginni
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do it. Rufus Wainwright onceadmitte
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A Cautionary TaleOne of the most in
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process wasn’t bringing heranguis
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The Teaching ofPainSadly, Katie’s
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Maybe you were even taughtdarkness
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songwriter who battled heroinaddict
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—until he gave up the booze. As h
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refuse to seek personal healing and
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madness with genius feels like alog
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person. I’m with the Britishpsych
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write fiction when I am unhappy. (I
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Choose What toTrustIf you choose to
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would’ve said no.But why wouldn
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work—and I cannot imagine thiswas
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never know, and that creativity wil
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gladness when I was not riding high
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chills that run up my arms, through
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given to you for the mere purpose o
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be.”What’s the difference betwe
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Martyr says: “The world cannever
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ever since. I believe this turn ofe
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back really crooked, or it might be
Page 505 and 506:
Brené writes wonderful books, butt
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But when she tuned in to thepossibi
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waited patiently in the living room
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her new trick worked like a charm.N
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Wyoming, and it was inspired bymy o
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the new, slimmer November issue,or
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ever written, and, as far as I knew
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challenge: Could I still manage tom
Page 521 and 522:
that expanded imagination does totr
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well need to do. You also won’t b
Page 525 and 526:
short stories and feature articles
Page 527 and 528:
just a thing—a thing that I had m
Page 529 and 530:
passion. I don’t believe in telli
Page 531 and 532:
person myself, but not every single
Page 533 and 534:
at times—a distant tower of flame
Page 535 and 536:
clue. Trust it. See where curiosity
Page 537 and 538:
curiosity can lead you.I’ve alrea
Page 539 and 540:
like.I poked about for a while in m
Page 541 and 542:
learn anything about gardening,desp
Page 543 and 544:
back when I was a kid, despite myve
Page 545 and 546:
That was kind of cool todiscover.Th
Page 547 and 548:
completely in my fascination. Ielec
Page 549 and 550:
covered caves of French Polynesia.T
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make no mistake about it—it’s s
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but also once wrote an entire album
Page 555 and 556:
that the biggest problem she seeswi
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Hungry GhostsYou will fail.It sucks
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two.) Just as you need your fear fo
Page 561 and 562:
be satisfied with anything. I have
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has been wounded—never my soul.It
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Do SomethingElseSo how do you shake
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abrupt, but, holy cow—talk aboute
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struggling with a book, I signed up
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“Hey, I never claimed it was myga
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eventually inspiration will find it
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bicycles look a bit nicer. Dutifull
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followed the clue. When he wasdone,
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By doing something else—andby doi
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Well, what could I tell her? Ihate
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differently. I think the fiercestqu
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Walk ProudlyTwenty years ago, I was
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of charming young people, whoturned
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—his new friends had not misledhi
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costume, and he was proud of it. He
Page 593 and 594:
ended up dancing that night with th
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foam claws waving in the empty air.
Page 598 and 599:
Accidental GraceMy final story come
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off their art, and they welcomedtou
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and everyone was happy.Actually, no
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(Were these nice-seeming andfriendl
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some money for the temples. Best of
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everyone could see it. It wasarguab
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mind the entire time.
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serious with us.Make space for all
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Geoffrey Kloske, Cree LeFavour,Cath
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