As summer fades into the brisk, bracing days of autumn, I always find myself thinking of new beginnings. Perhaps it’s that old, familiar remembered sense of school starting: the new pencils, new notebooks, new books. All this makes me approach the end of the year with a feeling of starting over, which sounds a little strange, I know. Still, thinking of all this as I start on my way back home from Vermont makes me feel a sense of gratitude about returning to work that I love and a desire to leap into my next writing project with energy and brio, even as I strive to find a home for my YA novel.
With crisp days and crisp sheets of paper awaiting me, I am determined to bring full effort to each day as it unfolds before me. And what better way to inspire all of us to make each day count than to call upon the lovely ancient Sanskrit poem that has inspired countless others before us:
Invocation to the Dawn
Look to this day, for it is Life, the very life of Life;
In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence…
the bliss of Growth, the glory of Action, the splendour of Beauty.
For Yesterday is but a dream,
and Tomorrow only a vision;
But Today well lived makes Yesterday a dream of Happiness
and Tomorrow a vision of Hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day.
Such is the salutation to the Dawn.
This day, let’s write our hearts out. This day, let’s bear in mind our sacred calling as storytellers. This day, let’s give our best, even when our best doesn’t seem like much to give. This day, let’s remember that we have everything we need inside us. This day, let’s be grateful for the chance to play in the forest of words and watch the shadows and the sun dance among them. Write on!
