WRITING

When Something Needs to Be Written

It can become hard to write anything else

This week, I’ve been great at getting things done for the various publications I edit for — Introspection, Exposition, Fill in the Blanks, and About Me Stories), but I haven’t been so good at getting writing done that’s just for me.

I have several stories that I’ve started or done a fair bit of work on, but few stories have made it all the way through the entire gestational process.

Why? Good question.

(Actually, ‘Why?’ is almost always a good question. It’s my favorite question, with ‘What if?’ coming in a close second.)

The answer, as soon as I asked the question, was clear, albeit annoying:

There was something else I needed to write. And ignoring the thing I needed to write was only going to continue to make my writing life difficult.

I’ve mentioned my journals here on Medium on many occasions, but one thing I haven’t admitted about them is that often they’re missing entries for the days and/or events that I know were some of the most impactful.

Why?

Well, because the most impactful moments in my life were inherently emotional.

Sometimes, they were events with implications I wasn’t yet ready to be upfront with myself about. At other times, they were just too emotional on their surface— devastatingly, painfully so.

For me, writing is honest. If I’m writing, then I’m writing the truth as I see it. To write about something requires that I be honest with myself about it, and there have been many occasions in my life when I haven’t been ready to do so.

As a young person, it was easier to skip over things — to avoid telling certain stories. Back then, I was on the whole more used to keeping things inside.

Now, as an adult, I have a pressing need to get everything off my chest — good, bad, whatever.

Those thoughts and feelings come out to my friends, they come out to my partner, and they come out in my Medium stories. But there are some things that aren’t fit for public consumption.

I may be open, dear friend-who-is-afraid-I’ll-write-about-them, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have any boundaries.

So there are just stories I haven’t told — things I haven’t written from beginning to end or in whatever many iterations may be required — because they weren’t going up on here or in some other polished form.

And that, my friends, is a problem.

Stories build up. And in my experience, when you do not release those stories, they try to hold all others hostage.

I’m telling you all of this because I’m certain that someone right now is struggling to write, maybe even considering themselves blocked, when the truth is just that they have a story or stories they aren’t letting themselves write.

If that sounds like you — if you’re finding yourself struggling to bring something to fruition, then I encourage you to consider whether or not there may be something under the surface that really wants to be written.

You don’t have to put whatever that writing is up here on Medium. (Although, you could always create an alternate account if putting those words into the world means something to you.)

Just write it, wherever and in whatever way you can, as truthfully as you can.

And if it’s something especially difficult, well, maybe have a therapist appointment scheduled for the next day…

For my part, I’ll be here attempting to do the same — writing the things that need to be written, whether or not I think I can do anything with them. Regardless of how difficult it may be.