| Continuation.................. When you write, don�t bleed on the paper. Perhaps there is deep anger because of the mistreatment you received from someone close to you. What do you with that which keeps you awake at night? Buy a journal and pour it out within those pages. No one wants to hear self-pity or extensive anger. In fact the bereavement magazines I write for stress hope and healing. That�s because if the focus is solely on the agony of losing a loved one, no one would be able to write to show how to live with grief. In order to be able to produce any comfort or advice to others in your same boat, you most likely need to vent first. Venting is a process of healing. Freely allowing the wound to be exposed can lead towards an understanding of emotions and with understanding comes the capacity to, in time, constructively share with an audience. From some of your journal themes you may be able to reconstruct the anger and design a helpful piece to submit to the markets on how to effectively deal with this emotion. Show by using creative imagery instead of clich�s. Be original as you convey your feelings. Find another way to show your father was as mean as a snake. As with other types of writing, write vividly. Show and don�t tell. What kind of childhood did author Frank McCourt have in Ireland? He could write detailed pages about how miserable he was during it but instead he lets us fill in our own emotions as we visualize his cold and poor life in Angela�s Ashes. Find something unique that sets your story apart from others who have had a similar situation as yours. McCourt tells of his brother Eugene�s burial and how he was upset when his father and the coffin carriage driver placed pints of beer on top of the casket. At the graveside the drunk driver left McCourt�s family stranded. The fascinating reading here is the unique details McCourt selects to portray this sorrowful event. We are smiling and crying at the same time because of the manner in which McCourt shares his story. |
| From Cara De Silva�s In Memory�s Kitchen we get a unique perspective on life in the World War II concentration camps. The hungry Jewish women of the Terezin camp kept their sanity by writing down recipes from memory, hoping they would one day be able to return to their kitchens to make these dishes. The compiled recipes, salvaged over the years, appear in this book, showing us that even in devastation, the human spirit does survive. Dig deep and find a different slant to use in sharing your sorrows. Be real and don�t pretend. I don�t want to read about a mother whose child has just died and hear her say that everything is okay since she knows her child is safe in Heaven. My four- year-old died and although I believe he is in Heaven, I still must live here without him on earth and I daily yearn for his smile. I will be teaching society nothing if I stress that losing a loved one is a grief that eventually fades. Much of society already believes that myth. What I want to convey is reality from what I have experienced. My longing for my son Daniel will last a lifetime. How do I cope with it? How can society effectively help the bereaved? This is where I want to reach across the chasm and in a how-to article offer realistic ways the community, family and friends can soothe the bereaved�s wounded heart. If you expect to gain a realistic perspective of your trauma and write towards healing, you must allow your narrative to be honest, filled with both negative and positive aspects. Even after Rick Bragg wins the Pulitzer, in All Over But The Shoutin�, he never lets us forget how his dismal roots with a drunken father who abandons the family is always a part of his soul�s core. Heartache as a way of life is what so many of we writers are about. The urgency to write may increase the more you allow yourself to acknowledge your heartache and deal with its many facets. Freely cultivate this. As your writing evolves and matures, you will help others, bring healing to yourself and even get paid. |
Resources for writing through the heartache Writing As A Way of Healing. Louise DeSalvo. Beacon Press, 1999. Writing For Story. Jon Franklin. The Penguin Group, 1986. The Writing Life. Annie Dillard. Harper And Row Publishers, 1988. Bird By Bird. Anne Lamott. Doubleday, 1994. One Writer�s Beginnings. Eudora Welty. Warner Books, 1984. Room To Write. Bonni Goldberg. Penguin Putnam, 1996. Writing To Heal, Writing To Grow: Margie Davis� web site: www.writingtoheal.com/ (a site especially for cancer patients, their family members and caregivers) |
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