Writing through it...

My mentor and fellow writer, Alicia Anabel, took some time to workshop with me. We worked through my writers block. What did I realize? I write; it's just what I do. Sometimes I write from my own perspective, my feelings. But, a lot of times I try to put myself in the shoes of others and write from how they may be feeling. Or, I write from my experiences and how they affect and inspire me. My block was writing from MY pain. Writing from and through a painful feeling or experience leaves one incredibly vulnerable. It's like having a huge gash and leaving it open, susceptible to all kinds of mess. I tend to close the painful things off, not open them, not allow any mess in. It always heals, but it also always leaves a scar.

Today, I wrote a poem about deployment. My soldier is preparing to deploy to a not-so-friendly area, and I am not one bit excited about that. He's leaving, I'm staying. Each aspect of the transition carries stressful experiences. I decided to write through it, or at least scratch the surface of what I am feeling. A comfort in the whole matter is knowing that for each line I type, I KNOW there is some other military spouse out there who is feeling the very same way. It is a thread that weaves us all together, regardless of race, religion or region. So I write for myself, to purge and heal. I also write for my fellow spouses who feel these same things, but maybe cannot put it into words.

~LPS~

Instant Gratification

I like things like the quarter machines, where you put a quarter in, turn the dial and out comes a prize or gumball or whatever. Instantly, bam! There it is! I love that! But of course, most of real life is not like a quarter machine. It takes a grand amount of patience sometimes. Tying this into my writing...I'm blocked. Actually, it feels more like stalled. Perhaps it's even sidetracked. There is a lot going on in my life. That is NO excuse. I need to learn how to manage my time and focus more clearly. I want to write, so I want it to come out NOW! The words, the stanzas, the rhymes, but they won't. Here is one thing that I have learned though, through the years. I cannot will the words. They come when they are ready to come, when the words are clear. This is true in every day life as well. When we obsess over wanting things that we don't have at the moment, it makes all of things we DO have pale in comparison. What is meant to be ours will make its arrival into our pocket of the universe when it is our time to receive it.

~LPS~