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One of my favorite poems in the world was written by Charles Bukowski and it’s entitled, “so you want to be a writer?” 

I love this piece for a variety of reasons but the most important of them all Bukowski is just dead right. 

This poem is like a lighthouse that always leads me safely to shore if I’m in rough, dark waters. A bit of serendipity led me to it today (by way of a podcast) so I thought I’d share it with you all. I’ve included forward slashes between the text where the usual line breaks are. 

Here it is: 

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So you want to be a writer? by Charles Bukowski

*if it doesn't come bursting out of you / in spite of everything, / don't do it. /unless it comes unasked out of your /heart and your mind and your mouth /and your gut, / don't do it. / if you have to sit for hours / staring at your computer screen / or hunched over your / typewriter / searching for words, / don't do it. / if you're doing it for money or / fame, / don't do it. / if you're doing it because you want / women in your bed, / don't do it. / if you have to sit there and / rewrite it again and again, / don't do it. / if it's hard work just thinking about doing it, / don't do it. / if you're trying to write like somebody / else, / forget about it. / if you have to wait for it to roar out of / you, / then wait patiently. / if it never does roar out of you, / do something else. / if you first have to read it to your wife / or your girlfriend or your boyfriend / or your parents or to anybody at all, / you're not ready. / don't be like so many writers,/ don't be like so many thousands of / people who call themselves writers, / don't be dull and boring and / pretentious, don't be consumed with self-love. / the libraries of the world have yawned themselves to / sleep over your kind. / don't add to that. / don't do it. / unless it comes out of / your soul like a rocket, / unless being still would / drive you to madness or / suicide or murder, / don't do it. / unless the sun inside you is burning your gut, / don't do it. / when it is truly time, / and if you have been chosen, / it will do it by / itself and it will keep on doing it / until you die or it dies in you. / there is no other way. / and there never was.*

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These words are powerful, aren’t they? 

They're powerful precisely because they're true and truth is rare in our world. We discover exactly how rare the truth is the more birthdays we have. Subsequently, we're drawn to truth like moths to a porch light. 

Throughout my twenty-nine years at this profession I’ve done mostly everything Bukowski says we shouldn’t do as writers. You see, I'm a late bloomer. Only when I began to follow Bukowski’s advice seven years ago did things begin to work out for me.  

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We must always be unapologetic about our own unique soul and voice. Bukowski had this in spades. 

No two people on Earth are the exact same and authenticity is our greatest asset. The problem is the entire world will try to make you conform. Every minute you breathe, life itself will try its best to grind you down and take your uniqueness from you. 

Recently, life has taken this from me in the form of grief. Like so many people, I've had a tremendous amount of loss in a relatively short period of time. 

First my Dad, then several friends and relatives, and then our beagle Amstel. Grief can cloud your vision, it can leave you stranded. Grief can make you lose your way. The only way out of this is through. 

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As it always does, this beautifully healing place we’re staying in, Sedona, is setting me right. I’m finding my own unique voice again and I’m discovering that, yes, after all these years I still want to be a writer. I'll be preserving this little spark of madness a little while longer. Strive to keep yours. 






All for now.  Trust your instincts, invest in you, live boldly, and take chances. 
 
 
 


<center> ~Eric Vance Walton~ </center>

















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Poetry should move us, it should change us, it should glitch our brains, shift our moods to another frequency. Poetry should evoke feelings of melancholy, whimsy, it should remind us what it feels like to be in love, or cause us to think about something in a completely different way. I view poetry, and all art really, as a temporary and fragile bridge between our world and a more pure and refined one. This is a world we could bring into creation if enough of us believed in it. This book is ephemera, destined to end up forgotten, lingering on some dusty shelf or tucked away in a dark attic. Yet the words, they will live on in memory. I hope these words become a part of you, bubble up into your memory when you least expect them to and make you feel a little more alive. 

[Pick up a copy of Ephemera today on Amazon.](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095HXB8WQ)  



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Most of us have experienced a moment of perfect peace at least once in our lives. In these moments we lose ourselves and feel connected to everything. I call these mindful moments. Words can’t describe how complete they make us feel. 

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