The ghost of your past can be
very frightening to face,
but if this ghost has helped to
elevate you to a more advanced spirit,
then perhaps it is not such a frightening
ghost after all.

There are many such ghosts.
Facing each of them each in turn can
make your current spirit stronger,
perhaps even strong enough to
defeat those inner demons.

Defeating demons leads to dragon slaying.
M. Alibrando

In order to live your life to the fullest you must
become your own knight in shining armor to
save your own damsel from distress.
M. Alibrando

Be the Superman to your Lois Lane.
M. Alibrando

"You can flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"
P. Pan

Originally written - October 31, 1993

Ancient communities gathered around campfires to feel safe
from the frightening creatures of the night,
both real and imagined.

More recently folks gathered around their kitchen tables
to feel warm and safe from the troubles of their homeland,
both real and imagined.

Where can our modern communities gather together?
Where can we go to feel safe from the problems of our world,
both real and imagined?

Is it the campfires and kitchen tables
which make people feel safe
or the gatherings themselves? 
M. Alibrando

Originally written - October 31, 1994

"Start with yourself."
N. Kelton

"Look at your life.
See what is missing,
and what is there."

"Look at your family,
at your struggles
and triumphs."

"Look at how you fit in."
N. Kelton

Write what you know and
the wisdom will flow.
M. Alibrando

"You needn't schlep to the
Himalayas for material."
N. Kelton

"Be yourself in whatever you write.
Make sure you tell the truth."
N. Kelton

Just write down one true thing.
Other truths will follow in time.
M Alibrando

"The deal is to tell the truth."
N. Kelton

What you write must
reveal the self, truthfully and sincerely.
M. Alibrando

"One of the reasons we write is to
find out our truths."
N. Kelton

"Not every idea is a winner."

"Get your feet wet."

"Jot down things that
get you or obsess you.
They are yours."
N. Kelton

"Think about the reasons
you really want to write."
N. Kelton

"Entertain you ideas,
not your critics.
They can fend for themselves.

Trust what stirs you.
Don't second-guess yourself.

Your first impulse is
you creative self,
your child,
your true self. "
N. Kelton

"Most of our writing gets done
when we don't seem to be
writing at all."
N. Kelton

"Learn to trust that glean
in you eye.
Whether it comes at you
at the beauty parlor
or at work."
N. Kelton

"There is a reason
an idea comes to you.
Play with it. Use it.
It's yours."
N. Kelton

"It helps to not be looking but in the throes of life.

That's when ideas quitely tap us.
Or hit us between the eyes.
Or tickle or scratch or itch us.
Or sneak right up from behind us."
N. Kelton

"In every work of genius
we recognise our own
rejected thoughts."
R. W. Emerson

"Anything is good if
it grabs
or sparks the writer."
N. Kelton

"Ideas, like most good things,
appear when we least expect them
not when we demand they should."
N. Kelton

"We often get our best ideas
when we are somewhere else."
N. Kelton

"Find a comfortable place to write.
Physically and within yourself."
N. Kelton

"No one gets anywhere playing it safe."
N. Kelton

"To have fun doing anything,
you have to give yourself
permission to
make a fool of yourself."
N. Kelton

"Everyone hears the music.
Everyone can dance."
N. Kelton

"You have to want to do it.
And be willing to take the risk."
N. Kelton

"Writing is an act of discovery.
It is a way to figure things out.
When you write,
you learn something about yourself.
If you don't, there is no deal."
N. Kelton

"What is our place on the planet?
How do we fit in?"
N. Kelton

"One of the reason writers write is to
make sense of what we are not."
N. Kelton

"Yes, it is scary to face the blank page and ourselves.

The only thing scarier is not to."
N. Kelton

"Turning experiences into words takes courage.
And a willingness to let people see who you are."
N. Kelton

"Good writing is about letting go.
It's about losing your self consciousness.
It leads you to your truest self.
And to enormous possibility."
N. Kelton

"Pretend you're in High School
and in your bedroom alone
with your favorite [music] blasting.
Boogie on paper like you boogied
back then when no one was around."
Me misquoting N. Kelton

"Tell the truth."

"Be yourself..."

"Let it roll."
N. Kelton

"Like taking Frost's
less traveled road
having courage
makes all the difference."
N. Kelton

"Show, don't tell."
N. Kelton

"Reveal yourself honestly."
N. Kelton

"...we take ourselves with us wherever we go."

"...living with other people is hard..."

"...dispite the stress and tension,
we need one another so we learn how to
compromise and adjust."
Me misquoting N. Kelton

"Be willing to keep opening up."
N. Kelton

"...be fully engaged."

"...the conflict [is] between you and you."

"The truths about life and yourself [is] illuminated
through a journey that touches our hearts and souls."
Me misquoting N. Kelton

"Be fully present."
L. Buscaglia

"Don't just go out into the world.
Go into yourself."
M. Alibrando

" Far more sustaining and nourishing is
regularly expressing what is 'within.' "
N. Kelton

"People in professions
and in other arts
serve long apprenticeships.
Writers are not excused."
N. Kelton