What Blocks You from Becoming a Writer?

As someone who’s been a professional writer for most of my life, I’ve met a lot of aspiring writers.

Many of these folks tell me they’ve always wanted to write a book.

According a survey cited in the New York Times, some 81% of Americans feel that way.

So why do relatively few of us follow through?

There are a lot of reasons, but I think the most basic one is simply getting started.

Helping writers break through that initial difficulty is exactly the point of Diana Goetsch’s Saturday practicum, Writing as a Spiritual Gateway.

Of course, you don’t have to be particularly spiritual to be a writer.

But there are definite parallels between the craft of writing and the practice of meditation. It’s helpful to approach both from the perspective of what Zen people refer to as “beginner’s mind.”

Just as the practitioner of Zen looks to approach each task with an attitude of openness and lack of preconceptions, so can a writer sitting down and looking at a blank page.

“In my writing, and also in my teaching, I see no essential difference between the spiritual and the artistic path. For one thing, both are lifelong practices in letting go of ego (if only temporarily),” Diana says.

Diana Goetsch is poet, Buddhist and writing teacher who is the author of eight poetry collections and a fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts. For years, she’s taught writers of all levels, and is is famous in writing circles for the Free Writing Intensives she’s taught across the United States since 2007. She believes that anyone who wants to can use writing as part of their spiritual practice.

So if this is something you’d like to experience a breakthrough with you’re writing, I encourage you to join us Saturday, November21st at 11 am ET.

To register or learn more, visit the event page. On the page is my YouTube interview with Diana.