I heard a quote recently that was attributed to Abraham Lincoln’s mother.
“The beginning of Wisdom is not imposed by discipline, but the beginning of Wisdom is first the desire for discipline, the love of it, the voluntary choice of it.”
I can’t say I’ve ever thought about discipline in quite this way before. I hear lots of talk in the writing community about writer’s block, procrastination, lack of time to write and so on. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a writer say he has a desire for discipline.
What would happen if we had a burning desire for a disciplined writing practice? If we loved sitting down at the same time every day to write, how might our productivity improve? If we voluntarily chose to be disciplined writers, how would our mastery of the craft improve?
