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Transcript

Don't Let It Destroy You · The Daily Writer

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Writer, where we share a lesson each day to help you cultivate the habits for creative success.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Writing, for all its beauty and goodness it brings into the world, can also be a force of destruction.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: For some reason, culturally speaking, writers are usually linked with vices such as smoking, drinking, lack of self-control, addiction to caffeine, ignoring their family to pursue their art, or any number of other destructive actions.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: But why is this?
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the answer probably involves a much deeper dive into psychology than we have time for here.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: It definitely goes beyond my own expertise.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: But the core reality is that writing requires such a huge amount of emotional energy that oftentimes we're prone to filling that void with things that make us feel good in the moment, but they actually leave us feeling empty.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: The author John Updike wrote, My first thought about art as a child was that the artist brings something into the world that didn't exist before, and that he does it without destroying something else.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: A kind of refutation of the conservation of matter.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: That still seems to me is its central magic, its core of joy.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now, John Updike didn't mention in that quote that art can destroy the artist, but that's usually the first thing to go when a creative person pursues their craft to the exclusion of everything else that's good and healthy and awesome in their life.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: So don't make that same mistake.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Don't let your writing be the only thing that defines you.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Choose to be a healthy person who is balanced, responsible, and enjoyable to be around.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: After all, what good is it if your writing changes other people's lives, but in the end, it ends up destroying yours.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening to today's episode.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: I want to take a moment to let you know about our Daily Writer membership community.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the very best ways to develop better habits and impact more people's lives with your writing is to spend time around other successful writers.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're tired of feeling isolated and chasing success on your own, then I know you're going to love the Daily Writer community.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: For years, I searched for the kind of writing community that I would want to join, but I could never find what I wanted, so I created my own.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the features include weekly writing sprints, monthly community calls, book discussions, calls with guest experts, and much more.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: For more info, you can visit dailywriterlife.comslash community.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, and I'll see you tomorrow.