Creativity requires introspection, self-examination, and a willingness to take risks. Because of this, artists are perhaps more susceptible to self-doubt and despair than those who do not court the creative muses.

Because she favours solitude and indwelling, an artist can live a significantly more claustrophobic life that she had ever intended.

Your chances of creating deeply hinge on the quality of your awareness state.

Abstraction is itself an abstract word and has no single meaning ... Every word in our language is abstract, because it represents something else.

Dream, but expect nothing. Desire, but expect nothing. Hope, but expect nothing. Release your need to control and gain real control.

You honor your writing space by recovering, if you are an addict. You honor your writing space by becoming an anxiety expert, a real pro at mindfulness and personal calming. You honor your writing space by affirming that you matter, that your writing life matters, and that your current writing project matters. You honor your writing space by entering it with this mantra: “I am ready to work.” You enter, grow quiet, and vanish into your writing.

An artist feels vulnerable to begin with; and yet the only answer is to recklessly discard more armour.