On numerous occasions now I have been told that to write better, I need to move my body.
Well, duh. I move my body fairly regularly through yoga and running to name a few. I thought the advice was great, I understand the importance of keeping your body moving and how easy it can be to get caught up in the writing and forget to move. That wouldn't happen to me. And, it hasn't. But, that wasn't always what these fellow writers were talking about. They were talking about moving my body while writing. At the same time. They offered examples of how they have done it. One friend placed her computer right next to her yoga mat. When she felt emotions well up, she took them to the mat and moved through them. Once that felt complete she returned to her computer to keep writing. (She also mentioned there may have been whiskey involved.) Another friend walked around her apartment speaking the stories out loud until she felt ready to bring them to the keyboard. I have resisted this. Not because I don't like moving my body but because I like to predict and be in control of all factors of my life. I didn't know what it would look like to move my body and also write at the same time. Wouldn't I forget what I wanted to write? I anticipated that the few seconds it took me to stop moving and sit back down at my computer I would lose the emotion I had found in the story and wouldn't know how to translate it to the keyboard. Also, it feels safer to stay in my head than shift in to my body. I found a compromise for now. I remembered that the notes app on my phone allows for voice recording. So, for the past few days I have taken myself to the streets. I walk around my neighborhood dictating the stories to my phone like I am talking to a friend who is genuinely curious about my stories. Numerous laps have been made down the streets around my home. I have yet to look at the transcripts. I am just praying it is coherent enough for me to be able to make sense of it and shape it into something more palatable. At this moment I still feel like the Little Engine That Could. "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can." And, there will be no greater sweetness than the moment in which I declare, "I knew I could."
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorMelinda Lee is a mom of two adolescent boys, a devout student of all things spiritual, a recovering perfectionist, and immensely fascinated with achieving the unachievable. Currently writing a memoir about hugging strangers. Archives
February 2023
Categories |