What I enjoy most about writing is ironically somewhat difficult to capture in mere words. It’s the intangible, the unknown, the dance with the thought, the emotion, or the idea. It is the process, the creation, the evolution, unmasking, and even the revealing of something from nothing.
The writing process somewhat mirrors or parallels alchemy, taking something raw and crafting a whole other form. To me writing is like being a master gardener, I work the soil, the rough copy – toiling away as it takes shape, develops mass and opaque tangibility. I then add seeds of thought, of deeper and nuanced ideas that start to take form, much like a seed breaking open and working its way through the soil. My ideas find their own cadence, their own flow, and before long I have a beautiful shape emerging, as if a new plant unfurls revealing its unique beauty and purpose. Just like nature, my writing process is free form, natural and intuitive.
Writing, is a creative process that enables me to let go of thoughts and feelings that may have been permeating deep within my consciousness. The light and the dark. It is a cathartic process, that allows me to further heal, and reveal myself. I like finding my perspective and sharing those thoughts and ideas with others. Other times, my words are purely for my audience, as I do not feel the need to share.
Whereas in my professional life, I need to be extremely disciplined and write with a professional, academic, medico-legal type voice. There is no room for the creative, no room for the imaginary, no room for the creative collision of nuance and ideas. No, I need to write with clarity, purpose and audience in mind. I thoroughly enjoy the challenge, however it is not like the joy I feel from creative writing. Creative writing is like a block or sculptor’s clay, it takes shape and form as it reveals itself. It is organic, unhurried and unbound.
I love being able to find a space and simply allow my fingers to wander the keyboard, I do not try to overthink or over intellectualise writing, as I find that I do better allowing my intuition to kick in. This way, I allow myself to be swept up in a sea of ideas, and cascading words and thoughts, before I know it my fingers are fuelled by an inspired rhythm of expression. Writers are like conduits, our inspired ideas and thoughts, our stories and musings somehow materialise from the ether. As if plucked from an invisible mist of shared meaning and purpose, each writer working with their own palette of meaning and reference.
I love that writing allows me to enter into a whole new world, an unbound world of imagination and expression. A world where others like myself are free to take hold of the intangible, hold it In our mind’s eye, play with it, rotate it, reimagine it and transform it into something that others can respond to, be moved by, or inspired and challenged by.
Writing is a form of magic, how could it not be? It’s a form of magic that both amuses, and mystifies the mage, not only the audience. Additionally, in a world where everything has a price, the creative process of writing is free. It is the dreaded desire to publish that can cost a packet. Yet, that is the dream. I’ve just got to believe in myself. I love that writing allows for all of us to share our own unique voice, our own unique colours and interpretations of life.
Selectively Juggling 
Leave a comment