Writer's Voice: Five Places to Find Meaning
among the Spring Blossoms
By Melissa A. Rosati
Have you seen my voice?
Odd question, I know. Voice is associated with sound not sight.
Still, I’ve been looking for it everywhere: writer’s retreats,
a bedroom converted into a chic writing studio, the refrigerator,
which is filled with brainpower snacks, specifically chocolate-mocha
Haagen-Dazs (They say it cures writer’s block. I’ve dedicated
years to working out the correct dosage). Yet while my words arranged
on paper proved that I can hold my own with a comma and I’m no
slouch when wielding a semicolon, the words themselves felt to
me like hollow echo chambers; they ran in place bouncing off the
keyboard onto the page but went nowhere.
Then one day last autumn, I was strolling through a street fair.
I noticed two women standing behind a table display of seed packets
wrapped attractively as gifts. Muse impulse or poor shopping-impulse
control, it no longer matters which, prompted me to buy five of
them.
So as not to feel guilty for spending $10 on seed packets that
probably had a unit cost of eighty cents each, I went home and
found the addresses of five people I’d fallen out of touch with
for several years. For each note card, I thought that I’d be clever
and enclose an inquiry: “Where will love blossom next in your
life?”
Several weeks passed with no acknowledgement.
Naturally, I pulled out my journal to bask in rejection. I’d
show them. I’d answer this query myself and rejoice in my own
smug self-satisfaction that I was a lone word warrior.
Where will love blossom next in my life? Hmm. That was a puzzler.
I couldn’t work out the problem-solving angle or think my way
around it. The emptiness of the blank page mirrored the emptiness
within me. It was uncomfortable like scratchy underwear. I couldn’t
turn back though. I put that query out there and if I ignored
it myself I couldn’t justify my ego bruise.
‘Where’ meant going not to a retreat, my studio or the refrigerator,
but to a place of vulnerability. Where did I feel that emptiness
in my body? The question triggered my heart to race so fast it
felt like a ping-pong ball trapped in my chest. I took several
deep breaths and allowed it to lead the way.
I share with you five places to explore for meaning in your writing
practice.
- Make a list of five people whom you miss having in your life. Pick
up the phone and call each one. Start the conversation anew. Don’t
allow anxiety about what to say stop you. Trust that the words will come.
- Brainstorm 100 words about a person whom you love. Next,
imagine that you’re creating a painter’s palette by group similar
words together like hues of color. Then, with your pen as the
brush and the paper as your canvas, create a message that speaks
to who this person is in your life. Send this note.
- Celebrate laughter. When people laugh in conversation
with you, ask why what you said was humorous. Celebrate who you’re
both being in that moment.
- Listen with unconditional love. Where do you see pain
among your family members or friends? Ask what is hard for them to be
with. Listen without judgment, a proposed solution or comment.
Simply be there and share the space.
- Practice voice play. For one week, note all the different
voices that surround you: birds, the wind, children, people and
animals. What are they saying? What’s your heart saying back?
Without realizing it, my inquiry planted a self-discovery bulb
last fall. Through the cold winter months, I felt the ‘wheres’ unfold
gradually and I found that my voice within my heart. Now with the spring buds,
I am grateful for the journey and I trust
my heart along this continuous path.
I hope one or more of the above bring you to a new place in your
writing practice — the place where your voice lives. Where love
will blossom next in your life? •
© 2005 Melissa A. Rosati. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Melissa Rosati is a co-active coach whose clients are writers,
authors, and creative artists. Prior to her coaching career, she
was the Director, Editorial & Production for McGraw-Hill International
(UK). To subscribe to her newsletter, The Essential Soul Writer,
please visit her website: www.melissarosati.com.
04/05/05
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