Writing from the Shadows
Today I’m thinking about despair.
Part of the reason is that I joined a seminar this morning called Writers and Despair with Sarah Manguso. I would be thinking about despair even without the seminar, but in a different term—'fear,’ perhaps. ‘Being stuck,’ probably.
I’m on the very last leg of my MFA program. My final manuscript is due soon, and I have several pieces I still need to edit. I keep finding ways to avoid doing the work. I know that some of my blocks have to do with where I’m at in my writing process—I’m mostly uninterested in what I’ve done toward my book so far, but preparing my final manuscript means polishing the work I’ve done rather than starting new writing. I’ll have time to take on the next phase of this book after the semester, but it’s been hard to get back into what I have when I want to be elsewhere.
Despair is a fixture in other realms of my life, too, but that’s another story.
I came away from the seminar this morning with the idea to start a series here. I’m calling it Writing from the Shadows. I want to touch on some topics related to craft, process, and practice and give myself a chance to write about writing while I, you know, write. This space, Writing Witchery, is meant to be a haven for creatives, but I mostly want it to be a place that feels authentic—by which I mean messy, honest, and exploratory. Right now I need a touchstone, a way to feel grounded in my writing practice and the end of this particular stage of my writing journey, so this is for me—but I hope you’ll find it helpful in some way, wherever you are in your journey. If nothing else, I hope you’ll take this as a sign to be radically honest about your own process.
In the coming weeks I want to dig into shadow work around writing, bring shadowy subjects to light, and build some bridges between the underworld and…whatever *this* is. We’ll cover unconscious motivations and blocks, confronting your writing demons, using magic and divination in the writing process, and writing about taboo or controversial themes—among other topics.
If you’re here—thank you. Get in touch (or leave a comment!) to let me know what you’re working on (or stuck on!), what you’d like to see in this series, or just to say hey.