The hidden ways in which we judge ourselves and our writing
Two nights ago, I learned Mary Oliver was a working writer. I realized I’d never stopped to question her life. not really. Rather, I was assuming what I thought to be true about her life, with tires going flat and all those meals without mustard.
I pictured her spending her days at the side of streams with a book or dreaming out a window looking at the hollyhocks growing over the fence, bending, bowing.
And surely, she did those things.
But I discovered that she also worked as a personal assistant and later as a typist of manuscripts. She taught at universities, and chaired residencies.
When I learned that, I was astonished! Wait, what??
My mind had her only in forests or at a typewriter
I also recognized that a part of my mind has been judging myself for the ways in which my life don’t resemble that of an ideal (or real) writer. Working on a blog post? Not real writing. Promoting a workshop? That’s not fueling your creative spirit. Cooking dinner? Sleeping? Shouldn’t those be done at a campfire or under the stars?
None of this was conscious, mind you
From experience (my own and that of my clients) I know that pop of astonishment. It means that a thought—a belief—has encountered new information and has just burst. It feels like a leather strap tightened around a bulging suitcase that, once cut, springs the bag open, I can see what’s been stuffed inside and how heavy it’s been carrying it around.
Of course, Mary Oliver was a poet, and of course she had to pay rent.
She had to buy lettuce, return library books, and do laundry. None of those things made her any less a poet; I’d argue they made her a better one.
She had to work; she also had to write.
Do you have a belief about how you a writer should look, what they should be doing with their time? If so, is it true?
Writing Invitation
I encourage you to open your notebook and answer this week's writing invitation with whatever wants to come through.
Photo used in writing invitation by Marius Matuschzik on Unsplash
Online Writers' Studio for Women
If you’re interested in receiving more writing invitations and having a place to write on a more consistent basis, you can find a new one every day and the space to see where it takes you in my daily co-writing sessions, which are just one part of the Online Writers’ Studio for women. The Studio also has regular writing workshops, weekly intuitive energy readings, and meditative writing sessions.
Otherwise, come back next week, and I’ll share another one.