It's the first Wednesday of the month and time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. If you're an insecure writer or just looking to give out support to other writers, check us out here. And a huge shout out to our fearless Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh for starting this group and being the greatest support of all.
First of all, happy three year anniversary to the IWSG! It's helped so many, and made a real difference to many insecure writers, myself included.
First of all, happy three year anniversary to the IWSG! It's helped so many, and made a real difference to many insecure writers, myself included.
For my IWSG post this month, I'm not going to talk about an insecurity. Instead, I want to discuss loss, and how writing can help us cope. Many of us are dealing with loss this month, mourning the death of blogger Tina Downey. In the past year I've also dealt with the loss of an old friend, murdered long before her time. Sometimes these kinds of tragedies can affect our writing, making it harder to focus on the day to day aspects of our craft. I certainly struggled with that these past two years.
But sometimes writing can be a solace to us, can comfort us and help us deal with the pain of loss. A journal, a story honoring the people missing from our lives, even a blog post -- writing gives us an outlet for our grief. And perhaps it can even help us move on.
Also, for anyone who knew Tina Downey, please take a look at the Blogging from A to Z Challenge website for a tribute to her memory.
Good point - writing can help us cope with life's tragedies.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Writing does help.
ReplyDeleteI signed up for Tina's special day. I'm looking forward to it. :)
I think writing can help cope, but I had a strong feeling while reading the Harry Potter series that many of the characters were killed off unnecessarily purely because Rowling was suffering with the loss of loved ones in her own life at the time.
ReplyDeleteWriting is extremely cathartic. It helps us understand what we're going through and let it out in some form.
ReplyDeleteWriting can be such a comfort to me sometimes; it's got me through some difficult times.
ReplyDeleteI find, from great turmoil comes some of the best artistry. When one suffers great loss especially what you had suffered with your friend, writing is a source one needs. I look at the 1960's great turmoil-vietnam war, fighting for one's rights, assassinations, great upheaval. It brought great music, art and writings. I think of some of the music today and just sigh. A creative outlet is always needed and one must do it even more so as to help cope
ReplyDeleteWriting helps me make sense of things at the best of times and it definitely helps when dealing with events like this. It's like a constant that won't leave you, even if it is harder some days than others.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you so much. I often use writing to "work things out" not just my grief, but joy, or insecurity. Yes. This is a truth, writing really does help.
ReplyDelete