Exploring how each writing voice contributes to the tapestry of human experience
Some people write because they have a story to tell. Perhaps they’ve experienced something life changing—like a diagnosis or the loss of a loved one.
They lived through their own suffering and want to help others.
Still others write because something extraordinary happened to them. Perhaps they had a near death experience or knew someone famous or powerful. Maybe, like someone I knew a long time ago, their parent was part of a secret government program in the late 1950s.
Some write about coming of age.
Others imagine and tell delicious romances or intricate fantasies.
Still others write to preserve stories of their family or memories with their children.
Others of us write simply because when we do we feel better. We might feel clearer eyed or fresh. We might gain some insight or understanding.
Each of these types and reasons for writing may look and feel different, and the culture has a certain hierarchy for what is considered worthy. Seering memoirs or best-selling fantasy novels are “up here”, while writing family stories or about everday experiences is often dismissed as not being serious.
The truth is in every one of these cases, the writer is using her voice.
The person who is writing has something to say.
She may want to express the sound of late summer crickets outside her window. How their song sounds loudest at dusk and feels as if it’s carrying summer’s soft farewell. She may want to voice a sorrow or a regret, like a friendship that once sparkled with glittery promise slowly, slowly faded to missed calls and unanswered texts.
She may want to mark a moment of awe, like the time she watched fishing boats take to the ebony Mediterranean waters, lanterns clanging against a pre-dawn sky.
That act of writing, of using your voice in whatever way you most like to do, matters, is worthy.
What do you have to say this week?