"i get asked often, how to write well enough to garner attention. my answer is : take attention off the table. cultivate a relationship with your creativity. yourself. it’s an inside-out process. respect your voice. the way you sound. respect your maturation process. don’t ask for people to critique your work. don’t disrespect your being by asking people if they like it. or should you change it. or is it good enough. good enough for who. it’s your voice. it’s good enough for you. don’t give yourself away like this. your voice, your art, your creativity, wherever it is in its process, that’s where it is. don’t ask for it to be better, when it just gave you its best. this is not healthy. this will create a dysfunctional relationship with your creativity fraught with mistrust and wounding. many times, i will write fifty poems before i get to the one i am seeking/ the one that is seeking me. there are poems before the poem. and they are all beautiful to me. all different aspects of a birth. some difficult. some soft. but they are all a part. give your creativity the space, the freedom, the respect it needs to flourish. it needs to trust that you love it, at all its stages. that you will not be abusive in your obsession of it being better. more. perfect. but that you will always, only, and ever want it to be itself. and that you think who it is, is extraordinary. it’s then that it will, happy and full, feel free to flow and share its unique genius with you and the world. make yourself a safe, nurturing, supportive, warm, loving home for your creativity, and you will naturally become the light you are."
nayyirah waheed
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