Writing

Today's theme on Create a Connection is writing. Here are the questions, and my answers.

1) Do you feel that immense [f]reedom in the writing world? can you write about anything?

I do feel a certain sense of freedom in writing. I can write things I'd think twice (or more) about saying. Words flow better for me in print than off my tongue. And I think, after 4 years of blogging, that it's pretty clear that I can write about virtually anything.

2) Do you feel safer in the writing world or are you at ease too with speaking?
what is the difference for you?

The best part of writing is that you can go back and put the words in a different order, take out the badly-used ones and insert the ones you really meant, and unsay the stupid bits. You can't do that when speaking. I'd much rather read a prepared, written thing; I tend towards foot-in-mouth disease way too much. I can do extemporaneous speaking, but it's dangerous.

The other good thing about writing it all down is that you have a clear record of what you actually said, vs. what everyone heard.

3) Can you travel thanks to writing?

I do a lot of time-traveling when I write, and yeah, I guess some transforming physically as well. There is a certain sense of emotional "arrival" when I've written what I had seen mapped out in my head. Occasionally, I end up some place entirely different from where I started, but that's ok too.

4) Do you re-create another world, or another self in the writing? is it an escape or a way to dream? to find some peace of mind?

There are times, when I'm writing towards a purpose, that I definitely feel like a different person at the end. I can't tell you how many times sitting down and writing things out has made things clearer to me, bringing not only peace of mind but solutions as well! I don't really dream in writing (I don't really dream, I don't think, except when I'm asleep), but words absolutely define me in any given moment.

5) Can you write about your secrets to feel better when you need to share? (either in blogs or private diaries)

See above. I remember once, early in my marriage, in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep and was quite upset about something or other...I sat down at the dining room table and wrote a long screed on how miserable my life was just then. By the end, I was over it, done with the maudlin self-pity and feeling like a drama queen in the extreme. I saved those pages and reread them--I'm sure they are around here somewhere yet--but I don't think I ever showed them to Beast. A lot of the writing I do of that sort is clarifying for myself. If someone else were to read those pieces, I'm not sure they'd be earth-shattering, but I have posted some of them online on occasion.

6) Are there things you would never write? (in your diaries or in blog[s], etc.)

Yes. Hard to believe, eh?

7) [H]ave you ever done Ghost writing, it's like role playing with letters or emails? would you be interested in this?

Hmmm, maybe, if I knew what it was.... I don't think I've done it, but it sounds intriguing.

8) Would you write about your fantasies or keep them in your mind, because it's too secret and private to share?

Some I've written about, some I wouldn't. Some I've written about in different venues, and some are strictly off-limits. It's entirely dependent on a number of different factors.

9) [W]ould you feel safer to write a blog if you were anonymous?

Yup. And that's why I do write anonymously. Still have burn marks from the last time I let my guard down online.

10) Do you believe that being anonymous increase[s] the freedom of writing? or do you feel that then maybe you are not seen and heard in your complete real self?

I strongly feel that no one can be "seen and heard in [our] complete" selves. For me, general anonymity makes it easier to write, but since there are a few people IRL who read my blogs, I am not completely anonymous. So there is a little tension between what I want to write sometimes, and what I feel I can write about. Eventually, I find an format in which I can address it, though it's not always online.

11) What is writing to you?

It's fun, it's a game, it's a way of making sense of the world around me, it's a joy (when things are flowing) and it can be incredibly frustrating (when the words just won't come). And sometimes, quite honestly, writing is a pain in the neck!