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WRITING THE HEARTACHE Once, I thought I was the only obsessive author frantically writing in order to survive. Then I picked up Louise DeSalvo�s Writing as a Way of Healing and heard the voice of another Alice. Alice Walker: �It is, in the end, the saving of lives we writers are about�. We do it because we care�. We care because we know this: The life we save is our own.� Writing for sanity, for sanctity, for survival. DeSalvo showed me that this is not a new concept, for the Greats-- Henry Miller, Virginia Woolf along with Alice Walker--have all done it. Miller was about to take his own life after his wife ran off with a female lover. Woolf was molested by her step-brother. How did they heal from their heartaches? They wrote, furiously. Have you had a tragedy in your life that will not let you go? Writing through it can be redemptive and healing. DeSalvo states that in order to allow writing to be therapeutic we must honor our pain, loss and grief. But chances are, you already know this. Your tragedy has caused you to look it straight in the face and you have picked up your pen and poured out your pain. You are standing today, perhaps even thriving because the ability to write has saved you. It has caused you to look at your heartache and be able to tolerate it. continued................. |
| by Alice J. Wisler First published in ByLine Magazine in May, 2001 Also published in The Canadian Writer's Journal, August, 2001 |
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