In an inspired and inspir­ing essay on “every­thing [she believes] about writ­ing”, author Eliz­a­beth Gilbert talks about what it takes to do what you want (in her case, write).

I believe that – if you are seri­ous about a life of writ­ing, or indeed about any cre­ative form of expres­sion – that you should take on this work like a holy call­ing. I became a writer the way other peo­ple become monks or nuns. I made a vow to writ­ing, very young. I became Bride-of-Writing. I was writing’s most devo­tional hand­maiden. I built my entire life around writ­ing. I didn’t know how else to do this. I didn’t know any­one who had ever become a writer. I had no, as they say, con­nec­tions. I had no clues. I just began.

Eliz­a­beth Gilbert has also pre­sented at TED, mus­ing on “the impos­si­ble things we expect from artists and geniuses—[sharing] the rad­i­cal idea that, instead of the rare per­son ‘being’ a genius, all of us ‘have’ a genius”.