According to Paolo Coelho, author of The Alchemist, we all have a personal legend. My book club read
this book recently, and I think I am the only person in the world that didn’t
really like this bestseller. It’s because I’m not clear on my personal legend,
and it feels like a lot of pressure to have to find it. Or perhaps more
accurately, I’m scared to admit that I want to be a writer.
I have always found that journaling grounds me, helps me connect
to myself. I feel more alive when I write, more inspired. I like Julia
Cameron’s idea, from The Artist’s Way,
of writing morning pages. First thing, just simply write three pages of
whatever is on your mind. Clear the brain and “take out the trash,” hash out a
problem, or write something inspirational, whatever is needed for that morning.
So morning pages will be a tool I continue to use, no matter what.
It is writing beyond my personal journaling that stumps me. And
then a really neat thing happened this past weekend.
I get a lot out of looking words up in the dictionary and
meditating on the meaning, really delving into the depth of a word. I also have
a Dictionary of Word Origins, by
Joseph T. Shipley, a reference tool that explores the history and origin of
words. I was doing one of my searches on
the word “ordinary” and following the trail. Ordinary led to “augment”; augment said
see auction. In the word study
for “auction,” one of the origins of that word is “author.”
We live very close to the Panther’s stadium here in
Charlotte, NC, and it was Sunday afternoon. The Panthers were playing the
Lions. Right as my eyes landed on the word “author” (and it even had an exclamation
point after it too!), I heard the distant roar of the crowd at the stadium. The
synchronicity of those two events made me smile. It felt like The Universe was
playing with me. The fans cheering for their team at the same exact time I was reading
the word “author” gave me butterflies in my stomach and encouraged me to dare to
believe in my dream of being a writer.
Why not?
NN