May 30, 2011

 How essential is writing to your basic well-being? Does not writing distress you?

I’ve been thinking about these questions this week as I’ve journaled and worked through the book Writing For Emotional Balance: A Guided Journal To Help You Manage Overwhelming Emotions. I shouldn’t be surprised anymore, but I was astounded at the relief (and practical help) I found simply through journaling.

I use the Life Journal software, password protected, and I found it so helpful, coupled with the exercises in the book. Writing means a lot to me for many reasons: a way to heal, a way to make a living, a way to connect with readers, and a lot of fun.

So I have this question for you: 

What does writing mean to you?

To kickstart your thinking, here are some famous writers’ opinions. Ray Bradbury is quoted as saying: “Writing is survival… Not to write, for many of us, is to die. I have learned, on my journeys, that if I let a day go by without writing, I grow uneasy. Two days and I am in tremor. Three and I suspect lunacy. Four and I might as well be a hog, suffering the flux in a wallow. An hour’s writing is tonic. I’m on my feet, running in circles, and yelling for a clean pair of spats.”

What does writing mean to you?

Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, said: “Writing is a matter of necessity and that you write to save your life is really true and so far it’s been a very sturdy ladder out of the pit.” She sees writing as a safe and strong and dependable way out of a pit.

Again: What does writing mean to you?

2 Comments »

1. 

   Writing is how I organize my brain. I almost feel like I haven’t really had a thought or understood an event until I’ve written it down.

   Comment by rockinlibrarian — May 29, 2011 @ 12:53 pm

2. 

   Rockinlibrarian, I hear you! Thoughts whirl inside me until I can write something down and process it. It helps to process out loud too (with a friend), but just as essential (to me) is processing on paper and seeing patterns and seeing in black and white what I actually feel about something. Yes, it’s a GREAT organizer.

   Comment by Kristi Holl — May 30, 2011 @ 10:17 am

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