About a year ago I came on board as an editor for Segullah. The opportunity came as an answer to prayers, many prayers, as an outlet for a desire to contribute to something worthwhile, as a kick in the butt to myself to get writing again.
In my journal I wrote an entry titled, Writing: At the commencement of my editorial career with Segullah. It reads, “I’m grateful for my talents and the confidence I feel the Lord is giving me to move ahead and work on this journal. I am feeling a sense of peace and a spark of enthusiasm as I read, write, and think. Now if I could only master myself and the things I do that waste precious time, because I’m being reminded that the emotional work of reading, writing, and responding to writing is something that takes time, practice, and patience. I do want to spend my time on it because writing is powerful. It can:
Ӣ Capture
Ӣ Heal
Ӣ Teach
Ӣ Persuade
Ӣ Evoke
Ӣ Influence
Ӣ Anger
Ӣ Comfort
When done well it is powerful! I want to use that power to share what I am learning and experiencing and to help myself learn and experience my life at its fullest.
It feels great to pick up the pen again.”
Reading this again, a year later, I am reminded of the many things I recorded because of my involvement in this journal. I made time to write and I now have: tidbits of personal history, details about my children that I would never remember otherwise, spiritual lessons I’ve learned, intimate communication shared with loved ones, poetry and essays in various stages of completion, and a chapter to a book.
My belief that writing is a way to share with others as well as a way to get the most out of our experiences has been reaffirmed, and I look forward to many more years writing, reading, and responding to writing. It is one of those things that can’t be quantified, but it’s good for me to think about and express my gratitude for it.
How does writing bless you? What motivates you to write? What else do you believe writing can achieve?
For me, writing brings sanctuary and fulfillment and gratitude. It unravels my mysteries. It reminds me. It is so necessary to get out the bones, to write what’s locked in the heart. It blesses me because sometimes I lack the way to SAY it. Out loud.
It was one of the first things to fall off the “to-do” list when my first child was born, but the rediscovery of it daily through a blog (yes, a blog, who wouldda thunk?) has been so good for my soul.
I thought I had postpartum depression– I was wrong. I just needed to write.
Thanks for sharing Brooke. I’ll have to read your blog. Reading other people’s blogs always gets me in the mood to jot down some stuff of my own.
I stopped writing for a while after I left teaching to become a full time mom. Now it does bring me so much. It’s one of those things that once I started doing it again I thought,”Why did I stop? I love this so much!”
Amen to this Heather. I believe that writing is a calling of womanhood. It is inexpensive, yet effective therapy.
Writing was part of my profession for many years until I got married and stopped cold turkey. For about 18 months, I felt lost without any real direction.
When I started my blog I realized it wasn’t just a record of my happenings but also a grounding for my soul.
Heather, I love this post. Writing, for me, is a way of figuring out what the truth is. I had a–it sounds melodramatic but it’s true–life-changing writing class at BYU where the teacher talked about how the best writing is also the most true… the closer writing approaches truth, the better it is. Anyway, it changed me. I know more truth now because I write.
In Derek Walcott’s 1965 essay, The Figure of Crusoe, he describes Crusoe’s loneliness, his madness and then he presents its medicine:
“He publishes every day the newspaper of himself in the journal he now keeps. The craftsman, the artisan, has become the writer. Crusoe can now look at Crusoe as another object. It is this act that saves his sanity (38).â€
I would add to your list the following:
connect
In this world of so many electronic gadgets meant to connect us it often seems we can also be more isolated than ever. But when I read something from someone else that seems to have be written right out of my own head and/or heart it instantly connects me to someone who is no longer a stranger.
I often sort out my thoughts as I write and if I blog about something that has happened to me and needs working through I am often blessed by the insights of others who respond.
When I think of all the events in my life I have forgotten already because I failed to write about them I am ashamed. I hope I write also to be a witness to the lives of those arround me and to truth itself.
This is great. I think that is one of the reasons for keeping a journal. I love writing.
therapy! catharsis! peace!
I love to write because I can brain-dump, emote-dump, and seethe-dump: if I didn’t, I’d be burning a supernova in my head.
So many times I’ve written out what’s gone/going on, and how it feels, and when I finish I feel so much calmer. Then when I read what I’ve written, it’s usually so much easier to deal with, or the solution is clearer or obvious.
Then there are the times when the written word is so much more expressive. You can write your heartwords, whereas saying them just isn’t the same.
When a friend moved away, it was so much easier for me to write her a story than try to tell her in spoken words just what she meant and means to me.
okay, i don’t know if the book is about this topic totally, but i just happened upon it at b&n tonight and after reading this post, it felt very serendipitous, so i rushed to buy it. and the title:
“Writing to Change the World.”
maybe we can add that to the list, too: changing the world.
I totally agree about therapy, and a dumping ground. I like it Brooke, let’s change the world.