There is a time to keep silence and a time to speak. – Ecclesiastes 3:7
All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quiet in a room alone. – Blaise Pascal
And finally, from May Sarton…
There is no doubt that soitude is a challenge and to maintain balance within it a precarious business. But I must not forget that, for me, being with people or even with one beloved person for any length of time without solitude is even worse. I lose my center. I feel dispersed, scattered, in pieces. I must have time alone in which to mull over any encounter, and to extract its juice, its essence, to understand what has really happened to me as a consequence of it.
Probably, you’re piecing together my theme here…I am throwing these quotes out as an encouragement (mostly to myself, though I hope someone else might find them useful) to being okay with the blank page or the cursor that blinks steadily in front of the gray screen.
Some days not even a handful of Hallmark cards of cheerful daisy-encouragement would be enough to help rally the writing troops.
Some days, in spite of all your best intentions, all you end up with is the silence.
And that’s probably okay too. It’s going to have to be.
I always hope those silent days are simply gestation periods for some really spectacular ideas.
Bless you Becca. That’s what I hope too. Though I find it so hard to ‘know’ that until I’m through the phase or gestation or whatever it is. But it usually is true, that something is being mulled over without my conscious knowledge. It’s quite the ride.