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| Photography by Nancy Falso |
Hi everyone. Sorry it has been so long since I’ve
written anything here, but that is likely going to be changing. This month I
decided to take a writing sabbatical to try to make some significant progress
on my novel and also an opportunity to make some real changes in my life and
especially my health. I’m more than half way through this journey and it has
lead me to some interesting places. The other day Jonathan Gunson posted to the
Writer Unboxed group on Facebook the question of; “Are we writing for ourselves,
or to be heard? A lot of us found this really thought provoking.
I write because I must. If I don't it will grab hold
of me, wake me up in the middle of the night, and torment me until I give in
and write it down. It’s been like this since I was a kid. For me the experience
is like trying to hold back a river. For however long it chooses I am the path
it flows through until it is done, and leaves me on some other shore -
sometimes like a fallen, floating flower blown loose from some distant tree. At
other times it leaves me shambled, bruised, and battered mess like earlier this
week when I was writing about the death of my main character’s father. I slept
over 10 hours that day. Living in the emotional state of one’s characters in an
effort to be authentic and be a bumpy ride. I must confess though, for it is in
its shimmering brightness that I find myself and allow myself to be seen by
others. Still it leaves me wondering, how much of these stories are mine, and
how much belongs to something unseen - something greater than myself? I find
myself contemplating; how much does the land shape the water, and how much does
the water shape the land?
Lastly I want to leave you with this . . . Don't put
your purpose and your passion in someone else's hands; it is your
responsibility, and no one else will care about it as much as you. If you want
to move forward then it is going to have to become a “Must!” for you. Stand up
for your own intuition, because you know you, and do you better than anyone
else. You are the person you have been waiting for.
