One writes not to be read but to breathe...one writes to think, to pray, to analyze. One writes to clear one's mind, to dissipate one's fears, to face one's doubts, to look at one's mistakes--in order to retrieve them. One writes to capture and crystallize one's joy, but also to disperse one's gloom. Like prayer--you go to it in sorrow more than joy, for help, a road back to “grace.”
- Anne Morrow Lindbergh, War Within & Without: Diaries
- Anne Morrow Lindbergh, War Within & Without: Diaries
As a child, I loved creative writing. The next best thing to reading stories was making up my own. With the glorious self-centeredness that only childhood before age 10 can bring, I remember that I was constantly writing my own autobiography inside my head. It’s funny now, but then the idea of telling myself the day’s events as if a third party were writing them seemed extremely important. I wish I’d had the skills to write more of that imaginary biography down - it would be a treasure now. In high school I journaled and wrote for pleasure, submitted stories to papers and magazines, and wrote tons of poetry.
Coffee first, writing second. I know my priorities. As an adult, I’ve put my writing talents to a lot of things, mostly business-related editing. I created and edited a newsletter for the Eastern Division of the Organization of American Kodály Educators called “Eastern Expressions,” and kept that going for 6 years. I spent even longer editing a quarterly newsletter for Well for the Journey. Both of those involved collecting and editing articles from other people, and then writing my own short column to weave it all together.
My creative writing muscle had atrophied a bit over the years. I stopped journaling during motherhood when I felt I couldn’t make the time and never went back. Poetry went by the wayside as well. I remember having a conversation with a teacher friend at school one day as I was mourning my loss of creativity. She reminded me that
My creative writing muscle had atrophied a bit over the years. I stopped journaling during motherhood when I felt I couldn’t make the time and never went back. Poetry went by the wayside as well. I remember having a conversation with a teacher friend at school one day as I was mourning my loss of creativity. She reminded me that
I was parenting, which was the most creative thing a person can do. She also assured me that my creative writing would return, eventually. She was correct, of course. It unfolded slowly as I took a few workshops on the different types of writing I had enjoyed in my younger years, happy to see the light again.
When I started blogging I had no idea how much I would enjoy this kind of writing. My blog has been a public journal, a trip into my past, and a way of talking about my Alexander Technique work. Right now, during COVID-19, writing daily is something that gives structure to my day and helps me process current events. It allows me “to think, to pray, to analyze,” as Anne Morrow Lindbergh so eloquently says. I wake up in the morning and I can’t wait to get up to my office and get started.
Here we are, with long, empty days stretching ahead of us. Have you always wanted time to write? Are you looking for a way to process these vast changes in our lives? The time is now. Pick up an actual pencil and find one of those pretty blank books that’s lying around your house somewhere. (You know you have one…) Find a quiet place to be alone, start doodling, and see what happens.
If you need some structure, see the exercise below, which also unites mind and body in the writing process.
When I started blogging I had no idea how much I would enjoy this kind of writing. My blog has been a public journal, a trip into my past, and a way of talking about my Alexander Technique work. Right now, during COVID-19, writing daily is something that gives structure to my day and helps me process current events. It allows me “to think, to pray, to analyze,” as Anne Morrow Lindbergh so eloquently says. I wake up in the morning and I can’t wait to get up to my office and get started.
Here we are, with long, empty days stretching ahead of us. Have you always wanted time to write? Are you looking for a way to process these vast changes in our lives? The time is now. Pick up an actual pencil and find one of those pretty blank books that’s lying around your house somewhere. (You know you have one…) Find a quiet place to be alone, start doodling, and see what happens.
If you need some structure, see the exercise below, which also unites mind and body in the writing process.
My favorite journal these days. Exercise to try:
Letter to Yourself
Using a pen or pencil and paper*, write a letter of gratitude to a part of your body. Let it know how much you love and appreciate all that it has done for you over the years.
Then, sit quietly and notice how that part of you feels.
You can do this every day for a week, writing to a different body part each time.
At the end of the days you allot to do this, see how your body feels. Are you more aware of the parts you thanked? Are you easier in those places?
* Why not write on a computer? If you are trying to get your writing muscles back in shape, there is something about the physical act of writing - of the flow of information from the brain and out the hand, that cannot be replicated by typing. Try it and see for yourself. No one cares how bad your handwriting may be!
Letter to Yourself
Using a pen or pencil and paper*, write a letter of gratitude to a part of your body. Let it know how much you love and appreciate all that it has done for you over the years.
Then, sit quietly and notice how that part of you feels.
You can do this every day for a week, writing to a different body part each time.
At the end of the days you allot to do this, see how your body feels. Are you more aware of the parts you thanked? Are you easier in those places?
* Why not write on a computer? If you are trying to get your writing muscles back in shape, there is something about the physical act of writing - of the flow of information from the brain and out the hand, that cannot be replicated by typing. Try it and see for yourself. No one cares how bad your handwriting may be!
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