Do You Write in the Dark?

Listen with your earth and sky, moon and stars.
Listen with your whole universe. ~ Sandra Lee Schubert

On my desk sits a box. Inside is a bottle of ink, paper and a glass pen. My friend crafted the box for my birthday. All the items inside were handmade including the glass pen. Also on my desk is a book of poetry given by another friend. On the cover are an inkwell and a quill pen. These are not unique images of writing implements. It was not that long ago when fountain pens were the norm. When you wrote you got ink on your fingers and blotches on your paper. Learning to write was an art in itself. I can imagine Shakespeare or Emily Dickinson at their desk with quill in hand pondering their next word as ink drips onto the paper. It is a somewhat idealized image but it gives me some pleasure.

Stephen King's book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, (2000) is good representation of one writer's life. I like King's quirkiness, his dry sense of humor and the determination that has made him one of the most prolific writers of our times. Better yet he lets you inside his head and allows you to discover the writers life and his particular creative process. He gives clear examples from his own experience that becomes the inspiration for so many of his stories.

I wrote from the beginning. I wrote with my dolls, paper, paste
and my food.
I wrote with my laughter and tears before I could shape a
sentence on paper. ~ Sandra Lee Schubert

As a child I wrote a family newsletter. I would produce just one copy at a time for my mother and sister that never left the house for wider circulation. In college, I rediscovered my love for words. I preferred to write poetry but did write for my college newspaper and regional papers. I have read many books on writing and have been an active member of writing groups. I have even created one such group. Despite all that I didn't consider myself awriter. I was someone who wrote. There is a difference.

My inner dialogue had me compare myself to all the other wonderful writers in the world, the prolific, the brilliant and the well paid. I fell short of them all. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? I had the brilliant notion that the only way to become a good writer was to write. I may not have called myself a writer but I had been living the life of one. The value of hanging out with other writers was bearing witness to their story telling. I too had a story to tell.

Creation is a better means of self-expression than possession;
it is through creating, not possessing, that life is revealed. ~
Vida D. Scudder, author and translator

What about you? Are you a closet writer?

If so, I invite you to step out into the world with your creations. The life of writer does not have to be a lonely one. Share your love of words with other lovers. Join a writing group. If you feel a little shy about sharing your work publicly then investigate some online groups. You can search for writing groups or just other writers. Visit a couple and see if the tone is supportive. What kind of feedback do they give? Is it constructive or mean spirited? If you like what you see online then dare to venture forth and submit a piece or two. You can always leave a group.

The point is to immerse into the life of a writer - share, support and talk to people who live daily with their craft. A writer gets to incorporate all their senses into the act of writing. Listen to the conversations around you. Observe. Smell. Feel. Write. Let your whole body become involved in creation. Absorb it all.

Some Creative Writing Prompts & Suggestions:
Write. Write again. Write one more time. Each day write 50 words.

Pick a topic or not. Observe - what do you see? Touch - what are the sensations? Listen - hear a piece of conversation and then write a story about it. You can write more but not less. Write with a friend. Go to the park and write for ten minutes and then go play. Write waiting on line. Just write. Don't think about it too much and don't worry about editing it. This is not your great novel. You are laying tracks, building the foundation, and developing the sense that writing is something you can do.

Hang out with some other creative types. What is wonderful about hanging out with other artists is that it fuels your own imagination. A photographer can teach you how to see, a musician how to hear. Ask them about their creative process. Act like an artist. When someone asks what you do, say in a loud clear voice, "I am a writer."