Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Secrets...


Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

The awesome co-hosts for the June 3 posting of the IWSG are Pat Garcia, J.Q. Rose, and Natalie Aguirre!

June 3 question - Writers have secrets! What are one or two of yours, something readers would never know from your work?

If I told you one or two secrets then they would stop being secrets, no? Secrets are such an interesting topic. As a psychotherapist, I keep lots of secrets. I have learned to be very careful with what I share, and as years go by, I have less and less desire to raise myself up, by being the keeper of various dark secrets. In my writing process I find out what secrets I keep from myself. Yes, I do. Just like in my meditation practice. I find out what I am most passionate about - justice, for instance - youth, women, the environment, nature, education, and so on. In other words, the last thing I would want in my work is to withhold myself. My writing is where I reveal myself, not hide myself. And that is not to say that it is blatant. No, I prefer to subtly show my true self.

In my current writing, I am revealing that I am prone to despair about those issues I care most about. My protagonist in Crooked Knife is also prone to that despair, and it nearly keeps her from the heart of the mystery she is trying to solve. One of the main themes of CK is that, even when battling a losing battle, against forces too mammoth to contemplate without despair lodging somewhere in one's heart, a person, or community, can continue to stand for the vulnerable, continue to make small victories, chip away at the entrenched evil. We can fail and then fail better.

So that's one non-secret secret I've revealed.

Another? Peanut-butter is necessary for my well-being.

Oh, and making. Making is crucial.




5 comments:

Pat Garcia said...

Hi,

What a cool way to reveal your secrets. It is a nice undercover.
Wishing you a great month of June and thanks for being a part of IWSG.

Shalom aleichem,
Pat G @ EverythingMustChange

Margot Kinberg said...

I know what you mean, Jan, about writing. It does mean the writer comes face-to-face with her own secrets - even those she keeps from herself. I've had that happen to me, too. I think it can help make writing even more powerful to explore those things. It takes some courage, though.

Liza said...

I hear this. We write what is important to us, which I agree does often include secrets. I have certain themes in my writing and more and more I see that they are a part of me I have let out into the story. Oh, and peanut butter? I don't live for it but a scoop in my oatmeal with a banana every morning carries me until noon.

Chrys Fey said...

I reveal myself in my writing, too. It's the only place I feel I can do it. <3

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Those are wise words and parallel what is happening now. There is despair and yet we should still prevail.