Dueling voices live in my head. One encourages me to do whatever I want, while the other reminds me I should complete the work I have slated to accomplish. The problem is, they are often very different. It is easy to shut it down. Sleep. Veg in front of the tv. I listen to Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” or “Fell on Black Days” and sink into darkness. Hopeless hours of nothingness become dark days that dampen my cares, obscure my goals, and limit my opportunities.

Or, I can summon my obsidian ninjas. They help me scrape together every ounce of creative energy, lift my mighty pen, and write an unexpected exit out of the vortex. My words spew death and destruction on the forces standing in the way of my character’s arc. They propel him into battle, driving him to the story’s climax. Nobody enjoys a story where the protagonist succumbs to difficult situations. Why would I allow myself to be any less persistent than the characters I construct? The courage I create for them motivates me to overcome my challenges.

Do your stories inspire your life?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

The weather forecaster says it will snow tonight and into tomorrow morning. I listen to people groan and complain about the inconvenience it causes, the messy, slow-moving rush hour gridlock, and the need to fire up the snowblower. I commiserate with the traffic issue, but my soul loves when it snows. Shoveling the driveway is an enchanting occasion. My favorite time to complete my cherished chore is late at night, while big, fluffy flakes float from the heavens, and slowly settle to the ground.

The neighborhood is quiet. On the main road, heavy-duty dump trucks, equipped with giant blades, scrape the pavement. The plows won’t venture down my tiny residential street until they clear and salt the major arteries. For now, it is me and the astonishing, comforting silence. The snow shovel grates on cement, cracking the brittle cold air as I erase any evidence of the white powder. The temperature gauge hovers around freezing, but I am warm, and I couldn’t be happier. These are the minutes I live for.

What are your happy little moments?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Every year approximately 130 million miracles occur. Each bundle of joy arrives brimming with promise, unlimited possibilities, and untold ways to affect the world. Certain individuals maintain we are born wired with a purpose, a singular destiny that is ours alone to fulfill. While some people insist that they connected with their life’s mission at an early age, I have yet to meet any. Most of us flounder, waiting for a lightning strike, hoping, praying for an epiphany. Meanwhile, daily activities consume our waking hours, and cannot provide the sense of accomplishment we seek. Something seems wrong.

Answers seldom drop from the clear blue sky into our lap. Nothing comes without effort. I believe you become what you do, what you consciously practice.  By living, your passion finds you. How can we know our true calling until we experiment?  Select an area that sparks your enthusiasm, a task which you imagine might be a dream. Follow where it leads for 90 days, go all in, and see where what happens.

After a set time, assess your progress, then, make a deeper commitment, or choose an untested activity. If you lose interest, allow yourself to try a different job, explore a new possibility. Don’t wait for a neon sign with your name on it. It’s not likely to appear. The path to your unique reason is to experience life. Discover your loves, the work that makes your heart sing, the areas where you excel. One day you will turn over a leaf and find your answer.

Have you discovered your why?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Everyone knows how a writer creates a masterpiece. They hibernate in secluded woodsy cabins, channeling Thoreau, as they cuddle next to a roaring fire, penning profound theories, and communing with nature. Some writers become recluses, hoarding poetry in self-bound volumes, and sharing their creations with select friends and family members. Writer’s block frustrations are drowned in alcohol and bad behavior. Today’s modern incarnations haunt coffee shops, with laptops, and earbuds as they compose caffeinated diatribes.

There is no perfect writing space. The challenge of putting words, sentences, and thoughts on a page is also what makes the process so rewarding. I scribble ideas on napkins, sales receipts, and the back of parking tickets. I pound my fingers on the keyboard while sitting in hospital rooms, doctor’s offices, and waiting areas. Notes appear on my phone when the mechanic repairs my car, and during quiet moments at boring social events.

I have found a little difficulty, the test of a struggle, helps hone my resolve and forces me to dig deeper, concentrate on my assigned task, and do the work. Some days I am happy to perch on my milk crate, with my laptop balanced on my knees. None of it matters when the narrative flows. Time stops, reality recedes, and for a while, I live in the fantasy.

Do you have a favorite place to write?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

It takes a brave person to share their secret hopes, impossible dreams, or cherished aspirations with the world. We work on cultivating positive thoughts, believing in ourselves, and dispelling our fear of rejection. Then we take our precious babies and announce their existence to friends and family. If we are lucky, they respond with understanding and support, but often they attack our fledgling ideas with criticism, shooting them down before we can fully develop them.

Those helpful individuals are quick to point out all the reasons you can’t, they poke holes in your premise, deem your logic faulty, or claim your plan is ill-advised. No one will ever go for that, they say. Those energy vampires can get their fangs into our excitement and deflate our commitment. It’s not personal, they declare, but the criticism bites us to the core.

This is the season when we contemplate goals, and set resolutions for next year.  It’s tempting to let the naysayers impose limitations on our fondest wishes. Great inner strength is required to push forward, challenge the status quo, and attempt to achieve the unknown. It’s easy to listen to the cants, and buy into the torment they spread. Yet, how rewarding would it be to prove the canters wrong?

Do you dare to share your dreams?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer