Announcing: FINDING YOUR VOICE WRITING WORKSHOP DEC 4-6, 2015
If your own writing scares you, you are not alone. I should know. I’m a scared writer magnet. I attract beginning, and sometimes seasoned, writers from all over the United States, Canada and Europe who have stared at the monstrous entity of their writing talent and fallen to the ground in fear. When the monster shows no mercy – in fact, begins to chase them – they run. They throw themselves off metaphorical cliffs, into raging seas of self-doubt until, finally, they grab onto the first bit of floating debris. If, in the act of saving themselves, they latch onto the website for the Lowcountry Writers Retreat, they may just wash ashore in Folly Beach Carolina
When I first started teaching “beginning” adult writers, I thought such behavior might signify a lack of talent. Now, I know better. In fact, I think in many cases, fear of not being good enough may signify a true writing talent.
I met one of my scared writers this morning. She had agonized for months about coming to work on her manuscript, only sending the first pages the night before her arrival. I read them before going to meet with her and was awed by the powerful voice I found in her work.
Sometimes, when I meet these Scared Writers for the first time, I want to yell, ‘How can you ignore this gift? Don’t you know you’re a writer and writers have to write?’ But, of course, I don’t because I might scare them back toward the ocean, swimming away from their talent, from themselves.
It’s a delicate process, that of bringing forth the writer. But, even after all those years of denial, it usually only takes about thirty minutes. The light goes on and they Get It. Then, the icing: they get real feedback on flow, syntax, tense changes. Real writers lap this up, recognizing the compliment that honest criticism bestows.
When they go home, the hard work will begin. Like the rest of us, they’ll have to sit in a chair and stare at the screen – as the old saying goes – until their forehead bleeds. But they leave, happy to start the process. And well they should: another drowning victim saved by their own determination.
Mentoring these Scared Writers is an honor and a responsibility. I have tried a few times in my life to stop teaching, thinking it may interfere with my own writing. But, each time I’ve tried, the raging sea coughs up another person who needs a safe place to land, maybe even a full blown resuscitation. I’m fine with it: someone has to be waiting at the shore. It’s not so much a choice as an assignment. And I’m constantly humbled by the talent of these emerging scribes. So, whatever beacon my little literary lighthouse is sending out into the world, I hope to shine on.