"Important things
take a long time to develop."
N. Kelton

"Your initial satisfaction should
come from your writing
and the discoveries you make
in the process."
N. Kelton

"When you write first and foremost for yourself,
not an audience or fame,
you become a better writer."
N. Kelton

"If you are not writing because you want to write,
you should do something else.
Writing is hard work.
Really hard work.
There are easier ways to be miserable."
N. Kelton

"...moderation and patience [have]
won more victories
than threats and sword-rattling."
Me misquoting M. Wies / T. Hickman

"You need not have been
to hell and back
to turn your life into prose."
N. Kelton

"Make your writing sing."
N. Kelton

Your true self exist within the center of
a maelstrom of the total personality.
You are then, the fulcrum
-- a point of singularity --
between your history and your possibility.

Every moment spent, every choice made,
every course correction made during
the epic journey of your existence
brings you closer to the "eye of the storm"
where your "real self" exist
whole -- complete -- perfect.

During your lifetime, you may occasionally pass over
-- and for a brief moment hover --
within the realm of this perfect self.
But soon, this moment will pass into history,
and your current self will then be drawn back out
into the chaos of everyday life.

One must try to not be distressed by
an all to brief glimpse of a future self
you might wish to be in the here and now.
Instead, try to be strengthen
by the knowledge that the future holds,
within its folds of passing days,
a better you.
One that is actually obtainable.

Given time, anything is possible.

Originally written - October 22, 1994

Write about the person you wish to become.
Map out all of the details.
If you can chart each and every course correction carefully
to that perfect you,
then you can then follow your map and finally
reach your destination-self.
M. Alibrando

Are there moments in your life that you wish had turned out differently?
Moments you wish you had acted differently?
Spoke differently?
Or had been brave enough to speak at all?
M. Alibrando

Try using moments of past failures as
lessons to hone future successes.
M. Alibrando

"Mean what you write and
write what you mean.
Otherwise it won't ring true."
N. Kelton

"Show up fully and
put your heart into what you say."
Me misquoting N. Kelton

"...each of us is responsible
for his own life."
N. Kelton

"Being understood is like coming home."
N. Kelton

Truths take time to unravel."
M. Alibrando

Keep seeking universal truths.
The thought mine runs
deeper than you know."
M. Alibrando

"Good writing has revelations.
Readers want truths about
their own lives."
N. Kelton

"We are all just muddling through.
The best we can do is love and
forgive ourselves."
N. Kelton

"And what are you saying anyway?
You must say something.
You cannot just let off steam.
and you can't just whine and kvetch."
N. Kelton

"Reading for pleasure is not guess work.
We have far too of that."
N. Kelton

"...something should become clear to you.
You should reach a new level of understanding..."
Me misquoting N. Kelton

"...life, is a mixed bag.
There is joy as well as grief
and just when we are ready to
tear our hair out,
the light shines on us again."
N. Kelton

"Try restating old wisdom
using new words."
M. Alibrando

"Just as a tree goes dormant in Winter,
then blossoms a new in Spring,
wisdom, too, can blossom a fresh
after being dormant for a long season."
M. Alibrando

"When you begin to believe
your own brand of wisdom
is better than every other
wisdom, it is time to
reexamine the wisdom that
brought you to this conclusion."
M. Alibrando

"Wisdom must be allowed to grow
- to evolve.
To remain fresh it must,
like a set of lungs,
draw into it fresh ideas and
expel from it old ones that
no longer have meaning for you."
M. Alibrando

"...reveal something to the reader
about who you are and what
you think and feel, 
but who they are as well."
N. Kelton

"The ending is,
as I see it,
your summation.
Your truth.
The point you are driving home."
N. Kelton

"State your purpose."
N. Kelton

"Write from the heart,
not from any where else."
N. Kelton

"If we deny love that is given to us,
if we refuse to give love because
we fear the pain of loss,
then our live will be empty,
our loss greater."
M. Weis / T. Hickman

"...you must be willing to
show who you are inside.
And of course,
you must really care."
N. Kelton

"...we can no longer
live within the world
and live apart
from the world."
M. Weis / T. Hickman

"The experiences that have
touched or hurt or tickled you
are the material from which
your truths spring."
N. Kelton

"The keys are usually the same:
Patience, openness, and perseverance."
N. Kelton

"Don't let fear stand in your way."
N. Kelton

"To my mind, all good writing is self-revelatory."
N. Kelton

"You must push past your limits to
keep growing."
N. Kelton

"Decent writers can and do go far
if they are also very good students.
They are willing to learn.
And to revise and revise.
That's the only way to get better."
N. Kelton

"Accept that your writing won't
always be good."
N. Kelton

"...you words won't always
be pearls."
N. Kelton

"The writing road is rocky.
Patience and perspective are keys."
N. Kelton

"You have delete buttons.
Eraser. Correction fluid.
And better yet: Tomorrow."
N. Kelton