Daily Writing
I’ve committed myself to 30 minutes of writing per day. Even naming the document “Daily Writing” is intimidating because I’ve made this commitment before. I don’t want to set myself up for failure. I settled on 30 minutes per day because even on the crappiest of nap days for Kalea (11 weeks today), her shortest naps are 35 minutes, meaning there’s no excuse to fail at this, unless you factor in my other commitments. Perhaps I should have named the document “Daily Writing When Not Impeded Upon by Sleep Deprivation, Cleaning the House, Eating, Meeting the Emotional and Physical Needs of the Rest of the Family, or Working Out so I Can Lose the Rest of the Baby Weight, Feel Strong, be Able to do at Least One Real Push Up, and Stop Feeling so Squishy.” Instead I opted for the shorter version and will allow myself some grace. I’m viewing the “Daily” as an encouragement rather than a sentence. Writing brings me joy and helps me process feelings into thoughts, which then become tethered to tangible, viewable words, which is important for me as a visual person.
It’s 7:02 am and I’ve already written twelve minutes! Not bad. Pat, pat.
What are my goals? I’ve always wanted to write a book, but I have a hard time deciding what to write about. I find fiction difficult for creativity-related reasons. I would love to see my blog bloom. I enjoy speaking my truth, offering a glimpse of my perspective on humanity that some may connect with, and perhaps entertaining a few people along the way. I struggle with truth telling in some regards because I fear speaking my truth will hurt or embarrass the people in my life who are part of my story; the parents, friends, friends’ parents, ex-husband, current husband, friends’ husbands, family members, kids, etc. Where’s the line between sharing my own experience or interpretation of an experience and protecting the other characters? And I definitely know and love some characters. It’s easy to write stories featuring people who I do not interact with regularly or at all, such as foster parents, my biological mom, or my dad. It’s fairly easy to write about experiences without naming names such as "Extra Grace Required" or "Extra Extra Grace Required" but those may lead the people you do know to question, “Is she talking about me?” It also sucks some life out of a story to leave out telltale details that may be important for fear of revealing the person. I guess my responsibility as a writer is to the truth. Tim O’Brien said in The Things They Carried, “I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth.” I tend to get caught up in details and the absolute-, concrete-truth, whereas maybe my goal should be to ensure the sentiment of my writing is truthful.
I suppose I’ll find my way while writing. In the meantime, I am grateful to brush the dust off this keyboard and update the blog for the first time in almost three years!
What is your perspective on this truth-telling conundrum?
It’s 7:02 am and I’ve already written twelve minutes! Not bad. Pat, pat.
What are my goals? I’ve always wanted to write a book, but I have a hard time deciding what to write about. I find fiction difficult for creativity-related reasons. I would love to see my blog bloom. I enjoy speaking my truth, offering a glimpse of my perspective on humanity that some may connect with, and perhaps entertaining a few people along the way. I struggle with truth telling in some regards because I fear speaking my truth will hurt or embarrass the people in my life who are part of my story; the parents, friends, friends’ parents, ex-husband, current husband, friends’ husbands, family members, kids, etc. Where’s the line between sharing my own experience or interpretation of an experience and protecting the other characters? And I definitely know and love some characters. It’s easy to write stories featuring people who I do not interact with regularly or at all, such as foster parents, my biological mom, or my dad. It’s fairly easy to write about experiences without naming names such as "Extra Grace Required" or "Extra Extra Grace Required" but those may lead the people you do know to question, “Is she talking about me?” It also sucks some life out of a story to leave out telltale details that may be important for fear of revealing the person. I guess my responsibility as a writer is to the truth. Tim O’Brien said in The Things They Carried, “I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth.” I tend to get caught up in details and the absolute-, concrete-truth, whereas maybe my goal should be to ensure the sentiment of my writing is truthful.
I suppose I’ll find my way while writing. In the meantime, I am grateful to brush the dust off this keyboard and update the blog for the first time in almost three years!
What is your perspective on this truth-telling conundrum?
I am so glad you are doing this! People tell me I should write a book but I don't consider it for the same reasons. There is so much learning and inspiration to glean from sharing the stories of struggle and joy. But there is always this question of how to unravel which part of the story web is mine to tell and share. I am looking forward to reading how you come to answer this question. Jen Cedar
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