As I was sitting in my office this afternoon, eating cashew chicken for lunch and playing solitaire, a startling thought zapped me: What if I've worked with kids so many years because I want to somehow undo my own childhood? Make it all better?
What if that's the reason children figure so prominently in most of my stories? Especially children who have survived traumatic events?
A few years ago, I was frustrated with a fellow author whose work always involved alcoholic law enforcement protagonists. I asked him when he was going to write something new, and he said, "When I'm done writing about this."
I totally agree that writing is great therapy, and it's free.
It's also the hardest fun work or the funnest hard work I've ever done. Wish it was my main work. However, one does need a day job to cover the addiction's expenses: electricity to run the computer, ink for the printer, food for the writer, and other such necessities.
I've been considering leaving my current job and going somewhere else. Somewhere kid-free. After all, I've been caring for children since I was a child myself; large family, lots of cousins. Maybe I'm done trying to fix the past. Maybe it's time to live forward.
4 comments:
I watched the movie you sent me, "Avalon", and the main character reminded me of myself--living in two worlds--the real one, and the one in your dreams--both lonely.
In the few stories I've written, the characters do suffer some of the things I have suffered, their situations do reflect my childhood/teen years. So, yes, I think writing and painting, as therapy, in unbeatable.
Isn't the music great in that movie? I wish I had purchased a DVD for myself, since I was ordering all those Christmas presents off Amazon. "Avalon" is one of those movies that has stayed with me, long after I watched it.
Yes, writing can be very therapeutic. When something's on my mind, I tend to stir it around until I finally write it out somehow. It seems to help clear the mind.
I'm barely even an amateur writer, but I enjoy it greatly, and with blogs and the 'net, it's easy to throw it out there for all to see. There's always traits of the personal that show up in the stories, even if its minor or just an indirect way of getting thoughts out. But when you're stumped, it is hard work :)
Good luck on your living forward quest. And thanks for visiting my blog and the sidebar link too.
Thank you, and you're very welcome.
About the amateur writer: Ya know, it doesn't matter how long some of us have been doing this writing gig, it still seems clunky and raw, and we wonder, "Who are we kidding? Who in the world would ever want to read this stuff?" But we keep writing. I think it's 'cause we're all just a little crazy!
Post a Comment