Although I’m not altogether sure, I’m willing to bet that one of the greatest gifts a writer can give or receive is the gift of words.
No one likes receiving books as a gift any more than me. The thought of all those words and sentences makes me tingle all over. As I make my way through the chapters hopefully that one gift changes into many gifts as I languish over the sentences and paragraphs, that deliciously wonderful plot that keeps me reading onward.
Last week a gift arrived for me in my inbox from writer friend, Syr Ruus author of LoveSongs Of Emmanuel Taggart.
Her email consisted of some writerly advise and a bit of insight prompted by one of my earlier blog posts. If she was my mom I think she would have simply told me to smartened the heck up and just write. But she’s not my mom, and she would never say something of that nature. She’s a friend who has the weapon of words at her disposal, and so she wrote, rather eloquently I thought. With her permission I wanted to share with you all this one sentence that I absolutely loved:
“Creation, I believe, comes from that part of your being where rules do not exist.”
——Syr Ruus
When I read those words it was as if a tremendous weight had been removed, it reaffirmed what my heart had been telling me all along.
I always enjoy Syr’s emails for they usually offer some words of wisdom, loads of praise and encouragement, and always brimming with the delightful wit that I have come to expect in one of Syr’s emails.
So thank you, Syr, for your wonderfully wise words that meant more to this writer/friend than you could know, thank you for helping to pull me out of my writing woes without telling me to smarten the heck up even though I needed a little smartening up.
Syr Wisdom—I kind of like the sound of that!
Laura Best 
writerwoman61
/ February 7, 2011I love that quote…very apropos! Thanks for sharing it, Laura!
Wendy
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Laura Best
/ February 7, 2011You’re welcome,Wendy. I”m more than happy to spread someone else’s wisdom around. 🙂
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syr ruus
/ February 7, 2011This is quite some tribute, Laura. Thank you so much. A corollary:
Each tidbit of wisdom is gleaned from years of foolishness!
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Laura Best
/ February 7, 2011I’m not sure about the years of foolishness, but Syr, but I am ever so happy to call you a friend.
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Ciara Knight
/ February 7, 2011Brilliant! I love that quote!!
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Laura Best
/ February 7, 2011I love it too, Ciara!
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Darlene Foster
/ February 7, 2011I love the quote! It is so perfect. May I use it as well? We all need to be reminded of this every now and then.
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Laura Best
/ February 7, 2011So true, Darlene, it’s nice to have someone in our lives to remind us of the things we keep forgetting or ignoring.
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joylene
/ February 7, 2011Wow, no wonder you loved it. What a wonderful way of saying it’s okay to write. And it’s okay to be yourself while you’re writing. I love that.
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Laura Best
/ February 7, 2011I have to say it was my “lightbulb” moment that day and for several days afterward.Being ourselves is really what makes us unique when it comes to filling up that blank page. Realizing that all we can do is write the story that is ours to write sometimes gets lost along the way.
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Lynn
/ February 7, 2011Oh Laura, I just don’t know what I am going to do about this problem I have. So many books I have on hand to read, more and more to seek out that ‘someone’ or another tells me about – how can I read them all .. and still have time to write in between everything else in my life. I never learned the art of juggling this many balls in the air.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Syr is saying that as writers we have the freedom and permission to create with the words that come to us. Hmmm I may still be looking for permission.
We all need someone with wise counsel in our lives. 🙂
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Laura Best
/ February 7, 2011I’d say you hit the nail on the head with that one, Lynn and it is wonderful to have someone else’s wisdom for us to fall back on when the going gets tough.
Oh, and I guess it’s a good thing that you LOVE books so much. 🙂
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Lynn
/ February 7, 2011Good point. 🙂
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Pauline
/ February 7, 2011That is a great quote! Syr Wisdom indeed!
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Laura Best
/ February 7, 2011Glad you liked it, Pauline! 🙂
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Diana Lynn Tibert
/ February 7, 2011Great post, Laura. I think we all have to be reminded of that sometimes. No rules is a great way to the imagination flow.
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Laura Best
/ February 8, 2011Thanks Diane, While I think we need some rules, I also know that, as you say, we need to let our imagination flow. Perhaps we can get too caught up in the rules sometimes and need to give ourselves permission to write freely. Who know what we will find on the page?
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Carol J. Garvin
/ February 7, 2011Would that we all had such a good friend to offer wise tidbits just when we need them the most! I’m with Syr in believing that craft and creation can’t coexist when it comes to any artistic endeavour. I’m sure that’s why Anne Lamott said to expect all first drafts to be “sh*tty”. It’s import to let the words pour out uninhibited. Having said that, I’m still struggling to do it!
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Laura Best
/ February 8, 2011I feel most fortunate to have Syr as a friend. As well as her wisdom, she’s usually good for a chuckle or two along the way. I’m someone who needs laughter in my life (and a lot of it) to help balance everything out.
I hope you find a way to allow your words to “pour out uninhibited,” Carol. One way or another I’m sure you will. 🙂
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SuziCate
/ February 8, 2011“Creation, I believe, comes from that part of your being where rules do not exist.” – both beautiful and wise words. Sometimes friends know just what we need to hear.
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Laura Best
/ February 8, 2011Sometimes friends do know just what we need to hear. That’s why we call them friends. 🙂
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jenniferneri
/ February 8, 2011Rules do not exist!! Love that. That’s one to write down and place somewhere highly visible!!
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Laura Best
/ February 9, 2011Yes, great idea, Jennifer. I have a cork board directly behind my monitor. I think I’ll print it off and put it right there. 🙂
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Tracy
/ February 9, 2011Wise words indeed! I currently have a stack of several books that have been given to me my friends. If only I had more time in the day to read them all. As soon as I finish one, another appears on the stack..I think the book fairy brings them in the middle of the night.
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Laura Best
/ February 9, 2011Syr’s really the best and it’s nice to have her pass on her writerly wisdom!
I’ve been reading a lot these past few weeks,I guess it has a lot to do with the weather and the fact that I keep bringing more books into the house. Althought I buy a fair amount of new books I can’t resist a deal. When I’m done with them I lend them to my mother to read.
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Juliana Crespo
/ February 10, 2011Yes, such beautiful and powerful words! I really believe this too … that writing should be natural, easy almost, balancing for those who are meant to do it … I believe that when it’s difficult, as it can often be for writers, that we are not balanced, that the obstacles we face in our work reflects the obstacles we face in our lives.
And, so yes, it is with writing as it is with life … rules should not exist, because life IS change, life IS unpredictable … and these are the reasons that both are absolutely beautiful!
xoxoxo
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Laura Best
/ February 10, 2011Writing should be natural, and yours is, Juliana.I see it in your beautiful blog posts, the ease at which you simply let go and fill the page with words. 🙂
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