Writing Through
Do this when you don't know what else to do.
I had another column planned for today. It was finished and ready to go. But instead of discussing the craft of writing, I feel compelled to talk about the importance of writing itself.
Today, I feel uncertain, anxious, and sad. I don’t have the words big enough to capture everything I’m experiencing right now. I don’t know how to say it all, and I’m not ready yet.
But the first thing I did this morning was write.
I scribbled in a notebook, pouring out confusion and shock, words no one will ever read. I sent texts to support friends, worked on a chapter in my book, and now, I’m here, writing this to you.
Writing is how I understand my experience, process the world, find words for the things that must be said, must be recorded. It’s how I keep going.
Your Words Matter
Our words matter. Our voices matter. Our experiences matter. Now, more than ever, we have to put them on the page—in books, in posts, wherever we can—to document this time and claim our power, not only in the political realm but in the personal one.
An election doesn’t diminish the importance of our work.
Writing, like all art, helps us grow. It lets us see who we are and who we can be, instilling hope and possibility even as it shows us our limitations. It reflects the absurdity of our shortcomings, too. Helps us recognize our biases.
So keep at it. Keep telling your stories. Capture your experiences, thoughts, injustices, and dreams. Reflect on this moment and this life so we can find the words to rise above it.
The election is over. The presidency is decided. But what happens next? That’s on us. How we treat each other, how we move forward—that’s what will define this next chapter, in our writing and our lives.
Use your words to educate, inspire, entertain. Use them to share your experience and validate others. Write to cope, support, encourage, and claim.
Claim your story. Claim your voice. Because when we do that, we give others permission to find theirs too.
Writing does that. Writers do that.
When I was low yesterday I looked for insightful thoughts, inspirational posts, healing strategies, clarity, and understanding. I look for hope. All of these things I found from other writers.
We are the storytellers. We mark these moments and then we show how to transcend them.
Keep writing. Keep your head up. Don’t stay silent. Tell your stories.
Don’t use words to disparage or demean. Don’t wield them as weapons, but as lights through the darkness, illuminating what you see, who we are and who we can become.
This is our job. Write to give voice to those who cannot.
In the end, we’ve got to sit down and Simply, Write.
–p
Through writing, we walk out of the darkness into the light together, one small step at a time.”
―C.J. Heck