“Writing is a muscle and it should be exercised frequently.”
I’m sure many 80’s babies can recall getting emerged into the era of diaries and journaling at a young age and I am no different in that aspect. What changed my approach from leisure journaling to actually writing with intent and specifically in fiction was in 1996. A teacher was innovative enough to cultivate voice-tress and eager students to learning how to express themselves in various artistic approaches and it was then that I wrote my first poem. Green ink on white paper folded neatly but saturated in sweaty palms and worry, I did it, I expressed something so personal and yet so vicariously experienced through various characters. So I continued to flex this muscle as often and in as many different ways as I could find. I went through a haiku, lengthy poetry style, old English diction and had considered writing an anthology of sorts. I picked up the pen and put it down, set up a few poetry web pages in my high school years ( when internet was dial up) and compiled several poetry books. I enjoyed fiction and short stories but never committed enough time or courage to actual complete any at the time.
“Life is the best disciplinarian and for the writer, her ruler cracks down on your knuckles till you write it right.”
When I entered college, I focused more on being present for the college experience rather than actively blocking out time to exercise my writing. Periods in between my social life, relationship conflicts, adolescent notions and broken expectations in addition to being the shoulder to cry on allowed me to shift perspectives and vicariously delve into the pain and happiness of day to day life. Pursuing and eventually earning a degree in Womens’ studies while concurrently saturating my studies with the uniqueness and similarities amongst women allowed me to shift lenses. Focusing on gender on a global and local level and spending years delving into research, literature, passions, opinions and experiences on paper and in classrooms, forced my writing to be disciplined, concise and empathetic to the moral and immoral compass of each author. Womens’ studies was a compilation of authors sharing ideas, philosophies and ideologies inside and outside social constructs.
“On occasion, the best words are no words at all”
After earning my Bachelors’ degree, I stopped writing. I stopped exercising my muscle, cold turkey. I went through periods of being a self critical writer perceiving my voice to be insignificant, that I came off “preachy” and that I had nothing to say worth hearing. I couldn’t write what I didn’t believe in and I honored that belief until it was no longer true.
“Writers leave their breath and finger prints all over their work, and that’s’ just in fiction”
I love writing fiction and to say that I haven’t left pieces and fragments of myself in everything that I have written would be a lie. I keep my writing short, not because I have little to say but in order to maintain its’ strength. Too many times, work is watered down for the sake of extra pages and to me it is not worth it. My work is breathing and it bleeds concisely and quickly, I want the reader to feel hit with waves of emotions and questions, I don’t want them to feel robbed of their time. (C))2015 Feathers and 4cakes
