Writing and passion

January 14, 2008
“Move in the direction of your passion” is one of my themes for 2008. It is a personal theme as well as a theme for Metaphorical Ink. Metaphorical Ink is my passion taking the form of a small business dedicated to writing--all writing all the time. I am a writing magnet (or magnate, depending on your perspective and pronunciation!). I am evidence; I seek evidence; I produce evidence that writing is a protean force that can literally change your mind and your world. Writing is thinking and discovery; writing is strategic planning and leadership; writing is slow food for the brain. Writing is fission and fusion, locomotion and magnification. Writing is agony and bliss.

I’ve noticed a pattern in my writing habits: I write more when I am distressed or when someone I love is distressed. At these times, I am likely to write poetry. When we travel, I want to write in my journal almost constantly to capture all the thoughts and feelings aroused by new sights as simple as vegetables in a market or as complex as being solicited by persons begging for money or food. When life is good and everyone is happy, my writing might be limited to grocery lists, thank you notes, networking emails to arrange lunch or dinner with friends and colleagues, and "work product." Work product for me can be a proposal, a conference paper, a curriculum, a presentation outline, website text, promotional pieces, or summaries of various kinds. On email, just today, I’ve had to write a proposal, lots of logistical messages arranging flights and meetings, a list of “starter questions” for a memoir client, a description for a cookbook project, and right now I’m avoiding writing a summary of recent sibling discussions about the settling of my father’s estate. Writing brings shape to the chaotic flux of ordinary life. An issue may threaten on the horizon like a dark tornado funnel until I can wrestle it to the ground in paragraphs, or maybe even lists, or sometimes in a four column table.

For Your Writing
What are your writing habits? When do you write and why? What do you write or avoid writing? Is it all painful, or does it bring along some benefit, some gain with the pain? (1)Make a list of all the kinds of writing you have done in the past month: letters, lists, filling out forms, work documents of various kinds, absence notes or permission notes for children’s school, want ads, eulogies, obituaries, blogs, and so on. (2) For each one, write one of three phrases: red light, green light, yellow light. Red light is for “STOP torturing me!” Green light is for “I can keep GOING on this route!” and Yellow light is for “I will continue but slowly and with CAUTION.” (3) Write a short paragraph describing yourself when you approach Red light writing, a separate paragraph about yourself when you approach Green light writing, and the same for when you approach Yellow light writing. For example, are you stressed or relaxed, what is your attitude, is it voluntary or mandatory, do you procrastinate or are you eager, are you typing or handwriting, etc.? (4) Try to add one more sentence to each paragraph about WHY each group is Red or Green or Yellow for you.

Quotation for Percolation
"The writer is an instrument of transformation." -Jeanette Winterson