To write or not to write, that is the question.

Musings on writing, imagination and noticing things

I never considered myself a writer; honestly, I still don’t. Idon'tthing, I am a thinker. As an only child, I was often left to my own devices. I was a latchkey child and spent many afternoons after school curled up on the sofa with my dog-eared copy of Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome.

My imagination was my best friend, and my childhood dreams comprised living in their magical adventures.

Reading those stories and dreaming those dreams, I always wanted to share my thoughts with others but never quite had the courage. It almost seemed like my thoughts, ideas, or musings were not worthy to be spoken of, let alone shared. So, I kept them locked inside my heart and mind.

Last year, at a spiritual formation writers retreat, we were shown a picture of trees and asked to write for half an hour. If you had told me four years ago that I would have thirty minutes worth of thoughts about trees, I would have laughed in your face. But for the first time in a long while, I let go of all the doubts, anxieties, fears that normally crippled my creativity and just let the words flow. For once, I wrote the story I saw in the picture. Those trees were my friends, and I allowed myself to listen, talk to them, and tell the world about them.

I write because I want to tell a story, the story that lingers in my thoughts, and I want to make sense of things. Author and Professor Sheila Liming defines writing as the “act of “trying to create a record of your understanding of something.”

And “that is what I try to do. When I first started to write, I worried that I did not sound academic, wise, or even theologically very wise. Having never had any formal training in writing, I struggled to find my voice. When I finally started to understand my voice, I worried I would not sound intelligent. My anxieties consumed me, and writing often turned into a chore. Don’t get me wrong, there is a discipline to writing, and I would argue that the best writers are usually reluctant. Sitting down and churning out words and thoughts takes effort and discipline.

But it also requires allowing your soul’s thoughts and emotions to flow. We can always go back and edit. But we don’t write just for an audience; we write to share our voices and for our souls.

Author Emily P. Freeman, in The Habit Podcast, says, “Part of the work of a writer is doing the work with zero confidence. It actually is the job of a writer and artist to do it anyway - even though it might not work, even though someone else could do it better.”

We may not have all the answers at the end of a writing session. We might end up with more questions than when we first began, but we would have taken the time to notice, discern, take something subconscious, make it conscious, and bring awareness to ourselves and others.

We often move through life quickly, getting from one point to another, but when we slow down, observe, and allow our brains to marinate or muse, perhaps we can also remember and live a more conscious existence.

So, if you are reading this and have wondered, “Could I possibly be a writer?” then yes, you absolutely can! You already have a voice, and you notice things, so all you are doing, in the words of Emily P. Freeman, is “pointing it out to others.”

So write on, I say. Be bold and brave, throw caution to the winds, and allow the words to flow.

“You have the itch for writing born in you. It's quite incurable. What are you going to do with it?” Lucy Maude Montgomery

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Photo by Ian Kelsall on Unsplash