Your Writer’s Journal is a Sacred Space. I have spent the past months in personal crisis. The habits of a lifetime keep me writing – journaling to be exact. Almost daily entries emerge from a fog of shock. I capture my experience in emotionally immediate form.
A Writer’s Response to Trauma. The heart is broken. A civilian might choose to hold that wound private. A writer recognizes storytelling fodder wherever she finds it. Heartbreak is first-class fodder. Intense. Powerful. Dramatic. A storyteller writes it down.
Everything is Right-Now and Raw. The blows strike hard. They numb the spirit. But they do not stop the movement of the writer’s hand across the page. The right-now pain of it. The emotions. A writer relentlessly records these painful feelings. As vividly as she can.
Everything is Reverenced. Respect must be paid and care taken. The writer may choose a seemingly incongruous tone. Affecting light heartedness or a sardonic pose. Still we tiptoe around her. She tiptoes around herself. Gives herself the safest possible space.
Everything is Material. The story must be reverenced. This is a deep-soul exercise. The storytelling must be reverenced too. This is a deep-imagination exercise. Occupy the shattered heart with collecting details. Preserve those details on the page for future use.
You Need a Writer’s Journal. If you do not have one – go to your favorite 99-cent store or online shop asap. Notebooks are everywhere. Find the version meant for you. You will recognize her when you see her. The journal notebook that inspires you to write. Fill her pages with whatever you must write. Your Writer’s Journal is a Sacred Space.
These Pages Belong to You. Fill them for your private use if that is what you want to do. They are the repository of your experience. They are the proper vessel for the fresh blood of your feelings. They are that safest possible place you must have when you need it.
These Pages Belong to Your Characters. If or when you decide to make a story of your experience. If or when you decide to transform trauma into a tale you are ready to tell. Into characters that breathe and bleed. Here they are waiting – in your writer’s journal.
These Pages are a Beginning. However deeply you have delved into the events and emotions of your experience – there is more to discover about the fictional people you create from real life. Your Writer’s Journal is the perfect place to explore this territory.
Ask Your Character about Herself. What do I not yet know about you? Before this trauma happened to you and after? You can tell me anything. What are your secrets and deepest feelings? What hidden truths deserve to find the light? Record her answers – in her voice.
Ask the Same Questions of Yourself. What have I not yet told myself? What secrets have I kept – even from myself? What feelings have I not yet allowed myself to feel? Be gentle and loving with yourself. Free your heart to speak. Your Writer’s Journal is a Sacred Space.
You possess storytelling magic. Keep on writing whatever may occur.
AliceOrr. https://www.aliceorrbooks.com. Teacher. Storyteller. Former Editor and Literary Agent. Author of 15 novels, 2 novellas, a memoir, and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells. Blogging here for writers. “What A Character! How to Create Characters that Live and Breathe on the Page.”
Alice’s Memoir is titled Lifted to the Light: A Story of Struggle and Kindness. At the beating heart of this moving story a woman struggles. All her life, she has taken care of herself. Now she faces an adversary too formidable to battle alone. Available HERE.
Praise for Lifted to the Light: A Story of Struggle and Kindness. “I was lifted. I highly recommend this book as a can’t-put-down roadmap for anyone.” “Outstanding read. Very, very well written.” “Honest, funny, and consoling.” “Ms. Orr is a fine, sensitive author and woman. I have read other books by her and am glad didn’t miss this one.”
All of Alice’s Books are available HERE.
Ask Alice Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know about how to discover the strongest story characters you have in you? Ask your questions in the Comments section at the end of this post. Alice will answer.
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I love writing, and I’ve kept journals, but it isn’t something I will do consistently. I’d want to write by hand, and I have a tremor which makes my handwriting difficult to read even for me.