“Be a good steward of your gifts.
Protect your time.
Feed your inner life.
Avoid too much noise.
Read good books, have good sentences in your ears.
Be by yourself as often as you can.
Walk.
Take the phone off the hook.
Work regular hours.”

Jane Kenyon

When a friend read these words of wisdom aloud recently, I knew I had to share them with you. Jane Kenyon is a beloved “poet’s poet” and these reflections appear in a lecture she gave called “Everything I Know About Writing Poetry.” When I went in search of more about Jane, I found that her thoughts on living the writing life had been passed on by many other writers to their fellow scribes. One writer, Dani Shapiro, has Jane’s words tacked up on a bulletin board in her office where she sees them every day.

I can see why these words strike a chord: There’s something so gentle and true about them, so simple and unadorned. If we make them our own, what magic might appear? With this in mind, I’ll share them once again:

“Be a good steward of your gifts.
Protect your time.
Feed your inner life.
Avoid too much noise.
Read good books, have good sentences in your ears.
Be by yourself as often as you can.
Walk.
Take the phone off the hook.
Work regular hours.”

Words to live by and create by as we all write on!