“Always honor your generous impulses.” Epictetus

What a gift from the ages! Epictetus is an ancient philosopher whose words echo down the pathways of history. His words here remind me—and I hope you, as well—that generosity is a priceless gift. And it’s one that we writers are especially gifted at giving because our pens are mighty and our words matter. Only consider the gifts we can bestow:

We can inspirit and enliven: I love that word “inspirit”—such a wonderful word! Somehow, to me, it’s more active than inspire. When we inspirit readers through our writing, we somehow mysteriously transfer the breath of life to them. We enrich their experience. We show them that life, however trying, offers valuable teachings and treasures. We help people feel that it’s a prize worth fighting for.

We can encourage: We all know that any creative endeavor requires solitude and that sometimes, it can feel lonely. As we all strive and struggle to express ourselves and whatever we want to convey to the world, it can be challenging. When we speak words of encouragement or send them in a note or email, we give a generous gift to our fellow scribes. We let them know that we admire their courage and perseverance. You never know how much this can mean to someone.

We can show gratitude: It’s always such a gift when friends and other supporters show up to help us. They may come to a reading or give useful feedback in a critique group, or help us raise funds for a project, as so many of my wonderful friends and family did for my play. Showing our gratitude through our words and actions means so much to our supporters! It lets them know that we appreciate them.

We can stoke the fires of creativity: You never know when someone else’s creative juices are on the ebb. Sometimes just checking in can give someone who’s struggling a shot of adrenalin and embolden them to keep going. We all know how important stick-to-it-I’ve-ness is—and a pep talk from a fellow writer may be all we need to keep going.

So let’s honor our generous impulses today as we all write on!

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