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Hidden writing: Editor's Notes #371
August 10, 2022
Hello,

Then there was the shame of the writer who doesn't write.
The me who carried within my breast in equal shares the conviction that I could write and the certainty that I could not.
Here all the problems of shame over…inadequacy and…insecurity ganged up to produce periodic bouts of thwarted attempts.

― Janet Groth


In this issue:

1. Hidden writing
2. Tickled my funny bone
3. Interesting Web site
4. Writing prompt

1.Hidden writing
by Jane Covernton

The main article in this issue is by a subscriber who also lives and writes in the same part of the world as I do. When I came across this piece, I asked her permission to reproduce it here because she is connecting with a group of people I also interact with. Some of you might identify. Over to Jane…

Today I had many bee visitors to the Echinacea flowers I had on my table at the Davis Bay Farmers' Market, where I am every Saturday selling my cookbook (Infused with Love: an End Times Cookbook). As usual there were also quite a few interesting human visitors. For the second time in the four months I've been doing this, the theme of the day was Writing Undone or not brought out into the world.

There was a young woman from Iran who'd written a novel when she was 16 and had been told it was very good, but she had to pay to have it published because she was an unknown. She used to write lots of stories and poetry and now she doesn't and she works full time. I suggested she could get up an hour earlier every day and write and would soon have something. There was a woman who said she's spent twenty years writing a memoir, but she keeps finding out more about her family and that slows her down. There was a man who's been working on a book about his life's work but is involved in other activities in the community and doesn't get it done. There was an older woman who said when she was young she'd written stories and she just threw them to the wind. I said, what do you mean threw them to the wind? She said she threw them out train windows and always wondered if anyone read them. She didn't keep copies and now she wishes she did. She said she can't write now because she doesn't have the concentration. I asked her what she did with her creativity. She said she sews. She was walking away at that point, but looked really happy about that.

And to me that's the point of the story. Writing or not writing, it doesn't matter. What matters is that we all have some way of being creative. It might be gardening, it might be singing, it might be sewing, it might be loving. I celebrate that. I just love to see it.

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2.Tickled my funny bone
I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.

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3. Interesting Web site
Considering synonyms and antonyms for creativity may open your mind to ways you can be creative.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/creativity

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4. Writing prompt
Write about your creative outlet, the ups and downs, the pros and cons.

I would love to see what you have to say.

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