Writer1Even poets need tough love.

This is a great article for any struggling writer: "7 Things You must Give Up to Become a Successful Writer." I have friends who produce all the excuses listed in this article all the time. And I have my own personal theory that I've believed in for many years: if you don't do it, you don't want to do it. It's not a fail safe theory (in relationships, for example) but it's pretty accurate prediction around vocations and avocations. I actually learned it from the parents of my boyfriend in college. They were commenting about me. It wasn't pleasant but they were right. And it helped me give up something I wasn't all that interested in for something I was very interested in.

People who want to write, they write. People who don’t want to write make excuses.

There's one thing you can say about tough love…it's tough.

Similarly, here is a blog post from earlier this year about feel-good good habits that don't amount to much under the shadow of long, hard work.

A year or so ago we talked about how challenging it is to start and maintain a poetry (or any) podcast,  many moons ago Robert sent me a more current guide for setting up a podcast. Just because it's tough doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.