Writing Through

When I was fifteen I had close to to the worst year of my life. In the midst of it, I can remember watching an ice skating competition and so wanting to be out there jumping and twirling with freedom. I didn't want to think about the hours, the days, the years of rigid practice; didn't want to think about the sore muscles or the falls. I just wanted to twirl and be free.  

But to really be free and do all we're made to do takes hard work, sacrifice, and injury sometimes before we get it right. When people ask me what's the best advice I can give as a writer, it's this: Write when you feel like it and write when you don't. It's the discipline on the off days that gives power to the on days, and after a while, you're trained to write through the storms and the sunshine.