‘You can do something extraordinary’

I’ve played the guitar, on and off, since age 14, when I first picked up a well-word acoustic with a bowed neck for $10 because I wanted to learn how to play the opening to Led Zeppelin’s classic, “Stairway to Heaven.” (This was in the mid-1970s, long before the ditty became labeled as the forbidden riff supposedly banned from guitar stores the world over.)

Much like my dedication to writing, my devotion to practicing the guitar has ebbed and flowed over the years. During the pandemic, I recommitted to playing more often, and I still fiddle with the instrument once or twice a week and always play guitar at church on Sunday mornings, but I am not what you would consider a dedicated guitarist.

I do follow some guitarists on YouTube and on their websites, and occasionally receive emails from some of them, usually with an offer to sell me something. Nine out of ten of these go in the digital wastebasket without so much as a read, but this weekend, for some reason, I was compelled to open one from luthier Andrew White, proprietor of Andrew White Guitars. Nestled inside the email pitch was a quotation I found compelling.

“…You can do something extraordinary, and something that a lot of people can’t do. And if you have the opportunity to work on your gifts, it seems like a crime not to. I mean, it’s just weakness to quit because something becomes too hard…” 

Morgan Matson, Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour (quoted by Andrew White)

That quotation ostensibly relates to practicing and playing the guitar. But it applies also to writing, I think. Because all of us who write are doing something extraordinary, whether we realize it or not.

I’m glad I opened that email, because it reawakened me to the responsibility I have to recognize and use this extraordinary gift of writing. You never know where inspiration or encouragement may come from, so keep your eyes and ears open to all the possible messages coming your way.

P.S. – I had no idea who Morgan Matson was when I got that email, but a quick search informed me that she is an author of young adult fiction. Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour was published in 2010. It’s one of 26 books by Matson. So it’s evident she practices what she preaches about using her extraordinary talents.

Photo: the author performing during a jam session in 2015.