Resources for Creative Writers: Inspiring Quotes, Books & Poems

I recently led a Yoga & Creative Writing Retreat at The Lotus Pond Yoga Center in Tampa, FL. (If you missed it and you'd like to join me, I'm leading my next one September 28th - Oct 1st at the breathtaking Art of Living Retreat Center in North Carolina.) Like any teacher, I am indebted to all of the teachers who have inspired, and continue to inspire me and teach me. During the Yoga & Writing workshops I referred to many great authors and read excerpts from books I'm currently obsessed with. Here's a guide to some of these resources -- I hope they inspire you along your path!

BOOKS

"Writing required everything I had, and then some. It flayed me alive. But I kept coming back again and again. I kept bringing forth the best that was in me. I can't say whether the books that came forth are good or not. Some say yes and some say no. It doesn't matter. It seems that it was the effort required to bring them forth itself that saved me. I noticed later that having written them did not really bring me squat, even though most people -- including myself -- thought that it should.

I have friends right now who are bringing forth what is within them. Anyone can see it in their faces. These are people who leap out of bed in the morning. They are digging down. Connecting with their own particular genius, and bringing it into the world. They are bringing forth their point of view, their idiosyncratic wisdom. They are living out their vocations. And let me tell you, they are lit up."

~ Stephen Cope, The Great Work of Your Life: A Journey to Your True Calling

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.”

~ Brene Brown, Daring Greatly

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy...that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium. The world will not have it."

~ Martha Graham, as referenced The Mindful Writer by Dinty W. Moore

You There

by Judith Barrington

You Put the palms of your hands together

close to your body, thumbs touching your chest

then bow your head to the tree

whose body bears these words.

In the deep pool under the cedar

a trout rises to a mayfly and ripples spread

in widening O’s like the years

etched into the heartwood as it grows.

What have the years written in your body?