In the wee hours of the morning, I read this facebook posting by sex educator and author, Pamela Madsen. It reached a place deep within the recesses of my mind and echoed with a great big YES!

• “This is why I write, wisdom from Anaïs Nin “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” When we write about our experiences – we get to truly savor and roll things around in our mouth for a while. Writing slows down pleasure, and brings it back to us well after the actual event. I deeply encourage all of your students of pleasure and life to begin to write. Start with a journal, or go right for the blog. Don’t waste the infinite possibilities of your experiences. Taste it twice. Just your morning wisdom from Pamela!”

Writing is my lifeblood, my heartbeat, the breath that expands my lungs. As grammatically incorrect as it may sound, I say that I can’t NOT write. It is what soothes my soul, eases my troubles and tickles me to no end. It is the first thing I want to do when I wake up ( unless I have company on the other side of the bed, of course) and it has been my soporific when I can’t stay in dreamland.

Since childhood, I had been fascinated with words and as a friend refers to it, I am a ‘verbivore’ whose sustenance comes from the written or spoken expression. I was weaned on stories: Dr. Seuss and Little Golden Books, Grimm’s Fairy Tales and Highlights Magazine lined bookshelves in my suburban New Jersey home. My parents read to us and my mom took us to the library down the street for Story Hour. My library card was a key to the treasure room in which precious gems overflowed their containers. No way could I escape the delicious fate of becoming a writer. No way would I want to.

I have long considered writing a way of inviting people along for the ride when I have lived life full out. Even in the midst of activity, I have had the thought “I wonder how I can express this so that my readers will feel as if they were right there with me?” While that is an admirable thing to do, it is also short sighted. I much prefer Pamela’s take on it, since it serves both purposes as I allow myself to engage in pleasurable pursuit as well and can savor the experience. The same concept goes for any type of enjoyment. We experience it in anticipation, while it’s occurring and in memory, allowing it to sink in and rush through our bloodstream with a sense of ahhhh and awe simultaneously.

Writing is part of my spiritual practice as well, since it keeps me connected to the Divine. There have been times when I have felt like “Major Tom” in the David Bowie song “Here am I, floating in my tin can, far above the world.” and it has been writing that has kept me symbolically tethered to the “Mother Ship”. It has saved my sanity over and over.

The Muse is my sweetheart, keeping me company during those dark nights of the soul, holding space for my emotions and has been my play buddy when I am skipping through life.

I encourage people to express themselves through word-pictures, whether or not they feel they have writing talent. It is sourced through their own experiences, viewed through their own lenses and shared through their own heart-perceptions. A true and clear reflection of who they are. Is there anything more beautiful than that? 

One of my favorite books that taps into creative writing is called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. It is a primer on entering into the realm of imagination and mining treasures for oneself and others to enjoy. Julia shares   “Creativity requires faith. Faith requires that we relinquish control.”  Yikes!  That has been one of my greatest lessons of late. Over and over lately, especially since being a newly published book author, I have ; very much like a new parent, been called upon to do what I can and then surrender outcome. You see, there is such an illusion of control in our day to day lives, that we really can shape our entire destiny. I have come to understand (and my understanding morphs, depending on circumstance) that all I can do is all I can do, and then it is out of my hands.

The artist and writer SARK (Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy) scatters her words into the wind that waft gently or dance deliciously in various books that entice the reader to open the doors to his/her own creative soul. One specifically on writing is called Juicy Pens Thirsty Paper. Imagine your paper slurping up your words! 

www.juliacameronlive.com  Julia Cameron

www.planetsark.com  SARK

One of my favorite quirky songs about writing My Baby Loves A Bunch of Authors by Moxy Fruvous http://youtu.be/5MeQK7JtLpU