Saturday, February 16, 2013

Finding A Way

When I was in middle school, high school and college, I was a fervent writer of poetry.  In high school, my best friend and I would compile our poems into compilations "books" and exchange them with one another.  She, being an excellent artist, illustrated a lot of her pages.  Mine were can't-draw-anything-but-a-balloon bare.  Those were some of the best days of my life --- the two of us encouraging each other, sharing these words that we wouldn't let anyone else see.

As I said, I wrote all through college --- even making The National Poetry Review at one point.  But somewhere along the way, I just sort of stopped writing.

Last week, my therapist gave me a copy of The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron to leaf through.  I had had a copy when I was going through my SARK/self-help book extravaganza after Dale died, but, like almost all those titles, I gave/threw it away.

The book guides you through a 12-week "path" to opening, or re-opening, the creative part of you. At this very moment, I can't tell you why I'm doing this, or what I expect/hope will come out of it.  I can only tell you that it is marvelous running a pen across paper again for something other than writing checks or settling estate issues.  I don't know what kind of creative writing I'll do, or when, but, if it doesn't make me cringe on second or third reading, I promise to share it here.

2 comments:

kathy b said...

We must be twins...
I wrote poetry though college and highschool.
My son has been asked to publish his, now in college...

GO FOR IT. I cannot wait to read you.
Id be too shy to share mine

Amy Rea said...

The Artist's Way is really helpful. I'd be feeling crabby about some of its overly joyful tone, and then bam, I'd have a breakthrough while following it. Good luck!

One

One video.