Themes That Pop Up In Life

I've been doing some reading on the craft of writing and on letting go in order to live a simpler life and a few things keep coming back to me. Themes, if you will.

The first - Write Out Loud.

I have J. R. Ward and Susan Wiggs to thank for this theme. Ward mentions it specifically in her Black Dagger Brotherhood Compendium which hit shelves this past month. Through out the book she discusses her rules of writing and how her writing grew and develop with this series. And the thing that caught my eye was Write Out Loud. Sort of like living out loud. Give it all you've got. Don't hold back.

On Susan Wigg's blog, she has been posting some of her notes from a writer's workshop she recently attended and I see this theme woven through her words. Michael Hauge, the screenplay master himself, presented the workshop and I know I really want to sit and absorb all I can from him some day. But back to the theme. While the workshop was around writing craft, at the end of the day he asked everyone to fill out this statement:

“I’ll do whatever it takes to be a successful writer; just don’t ask me to (fill in the blank), because that’s just not me.”

I thought about that after reading Susan's blog and I have a lot of caveats and addendums. I want to write, but I'm afraid. Of many things. I'm afraid of failing, of finding out that this is just a childish dream and that I've wasted my time. That's the biggest fear. And it holds me back in really giving myself to my stories. It holds me back from really finding myself.

Write Out Loud.

I recently found out that my position is being eliminated. I may not be completely out of a job. That will depend on internal positions where I work. But I decided to not worry about this set back. I was looking for a new road, a new path anyway. For the first time in a long time, I wasn't afraid about what would happen if I changed jobs or lost this income. It's been an excuse I've been using for a long time. I haven't been writing my own life out loud.

Well, for the sake of argument, this excuse has been whipped out from under me and I find that I'm not as afraid as I thought I would be. I'm sure that will change if I don't start getting a paycheck in the relatively near future because, well, we've based our savings plans and our renovations on two incomes. But, we can still be fine.

Yes, I'm going to look for a new job, but instead of jumping on the next thing because I feel guilty for not contributing to the family income, I'm praying I can use the time to discover what I really want to do and find fulfilling work that lets me write, and live, outloud.

More themes to come...