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Finding My Life in Writing
Sometimes My Writing Unwittingly Reflects My Life
I am fond of freewrites — taking a word or writing prompt and writing for a set amount of time without letting my inner critic and his pal, the critical editor, have a say. In other words, it’s okay to be repetitive or spell something wrong or ramble. Freewriting is about living life in moments and writing.
It’s all about forward progress.
The following 8-minute freewrite is based on the word, distant. Now, while I often write a non-fiction, memoir style around a specific word that reflects life in words, this time I opted to follow a story idea focused on the word, distant, instead. Here’s the thing. After letting this piece sit for a few days and coming back to read it, I can’t help but see my life reflected in my writing.
A Distant Land — a freewriting exercise
All the talk of a distant land had the hair on my neck prickling, not quite standing up, per se, but definitely prickling. What was wrong with where we were? What was wrong with right here, right now?
But the rumblings were constant and the undercurrent was something we could no longer cut through without effort. I looked around and the faces set with determination made clear to me it was the distant land…
