A Letter from a Mythicist

Authors talk about inspiration like it’s fairy dust

Like they bought it off a dimly lit street corner

Like it is cheap and easy, just hard to come by

But truly, if I can just say before you put your fingers in your ears:

You love the idea of this, you love the view from the peak

You don’t love the craft, you don’t love plummeting from the summit

It is bearing down with both hands on the plunger

It is making bad life decisions because they are good for your writing life

Without the trauma, even how your commas are placed would be different

You are hurting yourself on anyone; if there is a sword, you’ll leap to impale yourself on it

You pick up the pen like your son from soccer practice

You know you are supposed to love it but you just don’t

John Maurer is a 26-year-old writer from Pittsburgh that writes fiction, poetry, and everything in-between, but his work always strives to portray that what is true is beautiful. He has been previously published in Claudius Speaks, The Bitchin’ Kitsch, Thought Catalog, and more than fifty others. @JohnPMaurer (johnpmaurer.com)