Writing Alone, The Masculine Myths

One of the things that people in Brave Space tend to do is to articulate in writing what needs to happen next. Especially if you're wading into a large project, taking some time to send yourself a note is really important. What do we write notes about? What we want, why we want it, where we see this going, what we wish we could write, what we don't want to forget to fix, ideas, images, what we saw in the park on a walk, what we felt, what we remembered, what we know. There is so much we can do to prime our pumps! Carry a notebook and use it.

Some of us imagine that we are supposed to sit down and reams of words are supposed to just flow - this is such a myth! I can imagine Jack Kerouac and his endless unbroken pages flying through the typewriter. He wrote before the old green and white striped computer pages existed, so he had to attach his pages with tape! Personally I think this was a great way to procrastinate.

If you are sending yourself notes, it is easier to sit down and get the words out. It’s as if you haven’t really been away from the work at all.

The other myth that used to haunt me is the lone male writer banging out his "copy" whether he wants to or not. How masculine that seemed to me, drinking his hard liquor to get through the material he never wanted to share sober, forcing himself to "open a vein..."

I much prefer the idea of writing in community. It fosters kindness. Not just to each other, but to ourselves. And we all need much more kindness, especially right now with war, a new Covid surge and the East Antarctic ice shelf collapsing. Every day more chaos to contend with. We need a place to ground ourselves.

In Brave Space we are creating more of a give and take with ourselves, and this is healing and inhabitable. We can manage large (or small) projects this way. We can keep going.

If you are finding it hard to get or keep going, try Brave Space!