WRITING|PSYCHOLOGY
A Taboo Thing To Do — According To Many Medium Gurus
Does it truly matter and if so, do I really care?
Friday, March 25, 2022 — 7:21 pm
One of the most common things I hear from people when I tell them that I have kept a journal and have written in it regularly since I was 12 years old is:
“I never know what to write.”
I have never had this problem.
One of my favorite things about writing in my journal is that —
I can write whatever I want in whatever ways I want for however long I want.
Today, I decided to write and publish a story that is just like how I would write in my journal because I enjoy this free association way of writing and was reminded by one of Judy Derby BSc.’s stories that there are people here on Medium who like to read stories written this way.
I enjoy humor, fiction, and stream of consciousness writing the best, but share your best article with me and I will definitely check it out, including leaving claps and a comment!
Okay, so this isn’t quite “stream of consciousness writing”,
Stream of consciousness writing refers to a narrative technique where the thoughts and emotions of a narrator or character are written out such that a reader can track the fluid mental state of these characters.
but it is a stream of my consciousness which I have not been tapping into much as of late and I have missed it.
Nia Simone McLeod celebrates this style of writing, which I appreciate.
I love reading public diary entries — but I don’t often see them on Medium. Medium’s a platform where wake-up-at-5AM-and-you’ll-change-your-life “inspirational” articles and the scoop on the latest get-rich-quick schemes reign supreme. Chaotic poorly-researched musings on random topics? They don’t do so well.
But, for me, writing a public diary entry is like watching an old Nickelodeon show from the 2000s or discovering new Lunchables flavors at Walmart. It wraps me in a buttery soft blanket of nostalgia. Because, if there’s one thing that I have experience in, it’s oversharing on a public platform.
I don’t write and publish stories that read like my journals because I’ve repeatedly read by seasoned writers on this platform that it’s the biggest mistake new writers make.
Ayodeji Awosika has around 90k followers and has been in the game for several years. When I first started writing on Medium, I took a lot of his advice to heart.
I fall victim to my ego at times.
I’ll write a blog post I think should be written instead of asking my readers what they want to learn about.
Thinking about what my readers (or any readers) want is important, but I also need to ask myself what I want to write that will make writing and publishing here fun and enjoyable.
Sooooooo I think I’ll be publishing more “journal entry” type of stories in the future, especially when I have less time to research topics once I start working full-time again.
Speaking of…today started out a bit rough after I opened an email I’d been eagerly and anxiously awaiting for the past few days.
It didn’t contain the news I wanted to hear.
I took some time to myself to process everything before my partner got out of bed.
That was a terrific idea.
Fortunately, I slept very well last night which made everything easier, despite my left ear ringing louder than usual.
The highlight of my day was spending time on my balcony while the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky.
My left knee and IT band has been bothering me since yesterday, enough so that I put ice on both sides of my knee last night and this morning.
It was really hard not to go for a walk today with the weather being exceptionally beautiful.
I consciously decided to focus more on what I, and others, have going for us than all that’s oppressing, depressing and demoralizing us.
The Ketanji Brown Jackson hearings fuels and fills me with mixed emotions these days.
There is a story still to come there.
After having a good and long conversation with a close friend, I rearranged my schedule this weekend to suit me better.
It’s supposed to be sunny, but cooler and possibly snow with a bunch of cloudy days starting this Monday.
Let’s not forget the hour of time and sleep that will be snatched away from me in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
I gave myself some time and space to adjust to them properly.
Too often I push myself more than is necessary and I’m learning to dial it back more often.
Late afternoon I took care of a few important business matters which felt relieving to accomplish before the weekend since little to no serious business is done during the weekends in Germany.
Afterward I shifted gears and wrote a bit in my journal (not as much as I would have liked, but enough), but was constantly distracted by my adorably cute stuffed-animal-come-to life bunny.
I don’t know how much longer I’ll have him which makes me appreciate his presence more.
Dishes, laundry, general clean-up duties somehow led to me calling my mom out of the blue, which I could tell she loved and surprised me too.
It’s very unusual for me to call her without planning a day and/or time.
It felt good.
At the end of the day, I feel good and hope that you do too.
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