“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.” ― Julia Cameron
I love words. Seemingly meaningless strings of sound linked together by breath that settles deep into your bones like a quiet, friendly ache. I love to take words and pool them together into syllables of sound that resonate with me--and hopefully with you.
I love how poetry speaks to something inside us that we're not always aware of...how poetry makes us feel a little less alone in this vast, wide universe.
I love how poetry connects us--bringing strangers closer together, letting intimate details of life slip into open space between us. It is our stories that bring us together, that link our hearts and allow community to form, bridging time and culture and space.
I love how poems ask me to slow down...to sink deep into life and let every detail wash over me.
Yet even in all that love for the written word, some days it is incredibly hard to thread a sentence together. To sit down and actually do this thing called writing. There's a million different reasons why it's hard and I could list a dozen excuses right now.
“Often what keeps you from creative living is your self-absorption (your self-doubt, your self-disgust, your self-judgment, your crushing sense of self-protection).” Elizabeth Gilbert
Every person has their battles with self-doubt. I know I'm not alone in that. Every person walks their own road with grief, the stories I hear and collect tell me I am not alone in that either.
When I feel plagued by doubt and surprised at my own audacity to do this thing called writing, I remind myself that I am not alone in this life.
Sometimes I will then have to revisit my work, past and present, to see where I've been and where I'm going before I can pick up a pen and carry on writing.
When I finish paging through my own writing, I am able to remind myself that I am a writer because words and stories matter. We all have stories. Memories of those who came before and those we are raising now. We all have poems in our hearts, little moments that send the light from our smiles into our eyes and out to those we speak with. And maybe my words will help someone else allow the wonder of being alive seep into their eyes and their heart. Maybe my words will create space for other stories to live. Maybe my words can be the point of an ordinary connection, human to human. Maybe my writing will let you settle in and taste the slow beauty of life carried in each word, and you will leave feeling a little lighter.
If you have restless stories in your heart too, I hope you will speak them out loud one day, even if only to the moon, late at night.
And so are yours.
Make space for your stories. Let your words live somewhere.
“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.” ― Julia Cameron. This has been one of my favorite quotes for quite sometime. I love it when it shows up unexpectedly, a mirror for the moment. Thanks for that. And thank you for this post, as the unpacking of this quote.
This was beautiful and relatable. Thank you for your vulnerability and honesty and for sharing your words with us (and not just the moon). 💚