Goodreads asked Cynthia L. Schaefer:

How do you get inspired to write?

Cynthia L. Schaefer Oooh! One name, Martha Beck. I was reading Martha Beck’s Finding Your North Star and discovered moments in my childhood that made me realize the joy I experienced in writing poetry. It was something I used to do in middle school through high school. My writing stopped when I was told by a well-meaning aptitude advisor that if I had success in poetry, it would be after I died. I stopped dreaming about that path until my thirties. I thought about it again and again trashed the idea. Martha’s words about following your passion and doing the things you love, plus all her exercises, helped me to understand the value of writing for me. I could be a poet and so I set out to write 100 poems.

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