Your Passion for Writing-It's There!

You know what you have? You and I have that passion and love for writing. Regardless of whether we are students, work full-time in the corporate world or just stay-at-home moms, WE LOVE WRITING! Do you ever notice how many times a day you click on the link while you are at work to stay in touch with your friends in cyberspace? The ones that you are involved with in the writing arena. You don't want to wait until you get home, do you? If you did your poor inbox would be flooding like mine. Sometimes I don't want to wait until I get home to check my messages so away I go with the click of the mouse. We really do love writing more than our nine-to-five. Writing is like our vocation. We think about it when we awaken and before we go to bed. Sometimes we check to see if we have just one more email. Just one more, we tell ourselves.

Why is it that we are constantly working on projects, that book of poetry, a piece of fiction, a memoir or a screenplay? We are writers at heart. It is something that we are doing and a few of us, most of us, are not even getting paid for it. That is alright. It is a joy to behold. No one can take that joy away from you or I. We have a passion for it and when you have a passion for something, you are driven to do your very best to succeed, and you will!

Here are a few writing tips that I found on my writing cards. I hope you find them beneficial.

1. Sometimes we are so anxious to get to the end of what we're writing that we go too fast, skipping over parts that cry out for closer inspection or that offer up a truth so simple we hardly recognize it. There are so many points to make, characters to get from here to there, you zing from one to the next, a pebble across water, without taking the time to delve, to meander, to stay a while.

2. Expectations set you up so you're always ahead of yourself rather than being in the present moment. This is why it's good to dive right into the writing topic with no time to think of what you'll write or how best to shape your writing around the subject. For example, let's say something important has happened in your life and you believe you should write about it. Instead of the writing flowly freely, you can't get a word out, or if you do, it's a puny, shriveled little word, inadequate for the important subject you tried to write about. How do you let go of expectations? Before you begin writing, take a few moments to clear your mind. Settle into your place and breathe in and out deeply a few times. Let your mind be open and peaceful before you begin and let your writing surprise you. One of the comments most often repeated at writing-practice groups is "I don't know where that came from." It's usually said with some amazement.

3. Writers expose more of themselves than any other artists. When we write about what matters to us, we unveil our deepest feelings. Sometimes even to ourselves and often we least expect it. When we write about out human frailties, we are writing about the fragile scraps of ourselves. Our words tell more than the truth about what we're writing, they also tell the truth about us. No wonder writing often feels dangerous, makes you lurch from your chair, pace the room, and phone your best friend just to hear a reassuring voice. Meanwhile, the truth of your exposed and bleeding self spreads line by incriminating line across thirteen inches of cold white monitor. And that cursor just keeps blinking, reminding you that you are not finished yet. Your notebook lies open on your desk, yammering your secrets to any passerby. Being vulnerable on the page is one of the risks of the job-it comes with the territory, like performing a high-wire act with a new partner and without a net in a drafty circus tent. And in all likelihood, it's not something that will go away. You may become accustomed to the feeling, but you'll never escape the vulnerability. Novelist and short story writer John Cheever said, "I think that endeavoring to be a serious writer is quite a dangerous career." What to do? Take a drink of water, breathe deeply, stretch, go ahead and call a friend, then get back to the writing. A little distance may make you feel safer, but the very fact that you are feeling vulnerable means that you're writing close to the bone. Stay with it.

Enjoy writing, Enjoy your passion...it is something that we do daily and we want others to enjoy it as well. After all, it is your VOCATION!

diamond 2006 3/23