“Anyone can do anything at any time.”
Grammy Award Winner

I don’t know anything about the young man who said this as in his Grammy acceptance speech — who he was, what songs he’s written, or how he rose up to the top of his field. But as soon as I heard him, I knew he was speaking to me — and to you. What a liberating seven words! Let’s deconstruct them and see what they hold for us:

Anyone: That’s you, that’s me, that’s anyone we know, and anyone and everyone who feels impelled to write and share their thoughts. All of us are equal when it comes to our untapped potential. If we can find the inner strength to encourage and nourish our ideas, if we bring the loving husbandry needed to let those ideas grow and blossom, we can all achieve something we feel is worthwhile. We all breathe the same air as Shakespeare or Voltaire or Virginia Woolf.

can do anything: Why not? Why not? Who says we’re limited, constrained? Is there any limit to the imagination? Any limit to where it can take us and we can take our readers if we dare — if we stop dreaming and start doing? Nestled within the word “impossible” is
another two words, “I’m possible.” So let’s dream higher, bigger, bolder — let’s write dangerously and see where it takes us. Let’s go all out instead of holding back.

at any time: At any moment every thought we need, every word we long for, is available to us, just waiting to be plucked from the ether and put on a page. We have all the words — and thousands more — that Emily Dickinson or John Keats or Alice Munro or Willa Cather or used to write beautiful, heart-stunning poetry and prose. Amazing! Just think of all the tools we have at our command — we are kings and queens of the page: It’s our kingdom, our refuge, our playground. At any moment, we have the power to summon up words that sing and dance — and create magic. Right here, right now.

“Anyone can do anything at any time” — write on!