• Home
  • About Melissa
  • Novels
  • Short Stories
  • Events/News
  • Pottery
  • Contact
  • Blog

Melissa Ostrom Author

Melissa Ostrom is the author of The Beloved Wild and other writing

Resolution

January 2, 2020 By Melissa Ostrom

“You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures.”
—Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

Do you know your path? Have you found it yet? Is it really yours? Are you sure it’s not your Mom’s or Dad’s or husband’s or friend’s? If it’s yours, do you tend to it, tread it regularly to keep the woods from swallowing it (those weeds of excuses, those roots of distractions), and follow it so faithfully you feel committed to its winding way, even when it cuts through awesome terrain and makes you wonder if you’re brave enough to stick to it, if you’re fit enough to endure its steepness and craters, if you’re vigilant enough to keep it in sight and not get lost or discouraged, and if you’re sensible enough to consider the path itself and not some nebulous destination as your great fortune, your luck, your joy?
What if you spend many months or even years on this path and realize no one sees you toiling along its length or, perhaps worse, learn that others see you but scorn you, mock you, and suggest you don’t belong on the path. Do you continue? Do you cling to your path, regardless? This path: It requires more than dogged determination. It calls for pleasure, elation. Love. Can you love this path, no matter what?
I’m asking you about your path—whatever creative pursuit ignites your imagination—and also thinking about my own. Writing is a wild and wonderful path. Sometimes I forget that. Praise, criticism, indifference: They distract me, and I veer off course.
I need to remember what’s important and what isn’t. I need to celebrate this path. I’ve chosen it, and it has rewarded me with worlds to inhabit, characters to explore, ideas to follow, and ways to grow. It has blessed me with delights.
I hope your passionate pursuit does the same for you.
Happy New Year, friends. Happy creating.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Trackbacks

  1. To Dream: 2020 Distractions and Intentions – Rust Belt Girl says:
    January 13, 2020 at 1:33 am

    […] thing is about the path, and not the destination, I read this post for a different kind of “Resolution,” […]

Recent Posts

  • Mendable Medium
  • Wending Her Way
  • Real Art
  • Fragments From a Fire
  • Good-Weird

Recent Comments

  • Melissa Ostrom on Wending Her Way
  • Ann Peterson on Wending Her Way
  • Melissa Ostrom on Wending Her Way
  • Alfred Thumser on Wending Her Way
  • Melissa Ostrom on Wending Her Way

Archives

  • March 2025
  • November 2024
  • June 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • June 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • July 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017