on the power of showing up
note: I wrote this post in April of 2019 (pre-COVID). It's been sitting in my drafts for quite a while, but I think it's time for it to see the light of day. It's been helpful for me to reread over the past few months, especially as I continue to try to make an effort to write, and I hope it can be helpful to you, too. i got an invite to a writers' group a few months ago, and i had never felt like more of a fraud in my life. it had been months, if not years, since i'd felt like a writer. the proverbial well of words in my heart had dried up, it seemed, and i wasn't sure if it was ever coming back. i agreed to go out of a sense of helplessness—i'd identified as a writer ever since i could remember. if i'm not a writer, who am i? i told myself that it was important to show up and act like a writer even when i didn't feel like one, because even though i hadn't been writing, i reassured myself, i still was a writer. but sometimes the words f
Sky, I know perfectly well what you are going through right now, that post-NaNo down-turn, the guilt at not being about to write anything seemingly worth-while, or even quickly, after you had rumbled through an entire month of scribbling. I highly suggest reading "After the War" from Scribbles and Inkstains. I think it might help put things in perspective and help you recover.
ReplyDeleteI agree entirely. I've been in/am in that spot now, as it happens. A very appropriate simile indeed. It's good to know that we can commiserate in pain, however! ;)
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