Friday, September 05, 2008

Rilke

From one of my quote feeds,

If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; 
admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches;
because for the creator there is no poverty and no indifferent place.
- Rainer Maria Rilke

This quote struck me as I have continued to do some writing but I feel my resources are depleted having moved from some saucy urban settings to the country.  I am not sure I can (or want to) sustain the reflective writing on nature that Annie Dillard does, mine seems to tied to humanness.  And well as I pastor there are many things I simply need to keep to myself.

3 comments:

hineini said...

why do you need to keep things to yourself as a pastor? Thats a fascinating idea.

Heidi the Hick said...

I'd suggest that it's not what "people might think" but more that you're in a position of guidance... people have to be able to trust you. (Anywhere close?)

For me, as a hopeful novelist, there are a few life experiences that I'm not going to put out there in public. I might need to pull it out to put in fiction in the future. I also have this freakish need to distance ME from the characters I write. I want to yell that they're not me, but then I don't want to protest too much!

Great quote to start off this post. And as for writing, my advice is always to not try too hard. You know you can write. IT's there. Just let it out.

Even in your less-than-saucy rural location!

Unknown said...

Yes as far as pastoral confidence it would not look too good if the local community can connect the dots of the story whose names I changed. I am sure at some time in some way these experiences would find their way into my writing.
For now I will let Rilke taunt me and see what he can get out of me!