When I sat down to write this post, nothing seemed to be working. The words just didn’t behave. I didn’t like anything I wrote. Nothing was good enough. I wanted more than what was happening. So I got some advice from a friend.

I put on some Peter Gabriel. He had some wise words for me. Here are a few of the words he had for me and what they mean to me.

1. Don’t give up. I know you can make it good. Writing is work. There’s no doubt about that. Every writer has a problem getting started every now and then. I start writing in the middle or sneak in through a side door using a photo for an idea. Sometimes I put on some music or take a walk and then try again.

2. How you feel can make it real. Get alive with the dreamer’s dream. They say the best advice for any writer is write about what you know. I think the best advice might be write what you care about. Readers can sense when your heart is in the words. They can feel the power. I think they know when I’m laughing, singing, and dancing to the music as I’m typing.

3. All my instincts they return. Once I start to write about something that I care for, the words cooperate again. My writing starts to sound like I am writing it. I get a kick out of reading it. Something called fun is happening.

4. My heart is going boom, boom, boom. Nothing is more fun than writing that has gone well, especially after it started out stuck.

Peter Gabriel taught me that.

—ME “Liz” Strauss

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