The person I most dig, admire, croon after, and just all-around want to brain-pick (for the year 2012) is Maria Popova.
In case you haven’t gotten any of my many nudgings about her awesomely curated website Brain Pickings, here’s another one. Her site (and the weekly newsletter, which is any artist or bibliophile’s perfect inbox source for inspiration) is insanely popular — AND wildly verbose.
I realize I am probably late-to-the-game getting to know this prolific writer, as she already has over 200,000 followers on Twitter, but what the hey? It’s never too late to say; “Hey girl, you are awesome.” Here’s my letter to Maria, written with love and respect to her dedication to the epistolary form.
Dear Maria,
Now that you are famous, I write to you about something that is important to me…
Maria, hard work is hard. It’s also hard to know which direction to turn when everytime one comes up from the underground, the world presents all 360 degrees in choice.
Every letter is important. The ones we edit out, the ones we don’t write, the ones stored in boxes. The ones stitched in thread.
Maria, heartbreak used to be a long aria. Suddenly over and replaced with a new scene.
Now it the jetstream, always shifting and moving my weathered moods.
I don’t have time for reading awful books anymore. But I appreciate the work of every author.
Even a grey afternoon has something to say.
As for me, I am busy trying to get my life in shape around a bunch of other people’s lives. However, a small little piece of advice I got from a very smart person hangs in the air and I can’t seem to ignore it: If you try to make your life fit around there’s it will never work. Make your life work for you, and let the other parts fill in around you.
Thank you for your hard work, Maria.
Namaste,
Elizabeth
P.S. I haven’t read this one yet… I can’t wait.
(Haven’t heard of Maria? No worries… Here’s a bit on her.)
P.P.S.
