I believe in writing my way down into the darkness, burrowing a spiraling hole of light down into the diamond layer. I believe I’m always writing stories to awake my 10-year-old-self, my age of awareness and innocence and belief. I believe I didn’t have much to say at 25—only because I didn’t know how to process it all yet. Now, I do, and I have too much to say, so where do I start? I believe that getting started is easier than finishing, though, or maybe that I finish sooner than I think I should. That’s funny. It’s probably my overly analytical mind that goes round and round, and if I can just winnow it down into something succinct, I’ll stop thinking about it, then maybe I’ll stop hitting repeat, stop starting over and over again. I’m a monkey digging for gnats to squash. I believe the more I write, the more I’ll understand when it’s finished. This is not soul-changing writing, but it is exercising the muscle. It’s the winnowing so I can go start a new scene and carry on. I believe writing saves me, and reading will save us all in some way. What do you believe about your writing?
Read Then Write Workshop Writing Exercise:
Part 1: Set a timer for 2 minutes. Write a stream of “I believe…” statements about your writing life, practice, and observations. This is about YOU, what is truthful now, not what you hope to be as a writer.
Part 2: Read your belief statements and extract your disbeliefs and hopes. You may have to read between the lines with a microlens or levitate up to a macros level.
