Post-Election: A Writer’s Lessons Learned
written by: Annette Januzzi Wick
@illbeinthecar
I am a writer. My words holds sway. I must be my own best editor.
I am a writer. I use words to express my thoughts, values, ideas. Social media is a medium for those words. Writers have always overcome the establishment through non-traditional means. See Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize.
I am a writer. Readers accept puppy pictures, photos of pineapple old fashioneds, and posts about the comedy of errors with a mother experiencing dementia. Readers may not accept all of my words, or will judge a portion. The larger the body of work, the greater risk for judgment.
I am writer. I will not stop writing to keep up appearances. I have spent fifty years living in that box. I no longer fit inside.
I am writer. I have a certain obligation to tell only my truths. Other truths are for others to claim. I am neither responsible for their words, nor will I shame them over a desire to write what they feel called to write.
I am writer. I understand the need for impartiality. However, a writer, once unleashed, becomes an activist, and has a responsibility to advocate.
I am a writer. Writing is my mode of connection. If a reader disconnects from my words, a reader disconnects from me. I accept the consequences.
I am a writer. My words make up a set of experiences unique to my life. I am documenting that life. The reader exercises his or her right to not honor that set of experiences.
I am a writer. I use my writing to understand. To understand myself. To understand a generation above me, to understand the one below.
I am writer. I use my words to create a vision for the future, one that includes a desire for more than what I, the writer, can understand.
I am writer. I am trying to find words for what has been hidden from the world. I am trying to find the words still hidden inside of me.
I am a writer. Words are my love language. I will not fear my own words.
Her work focuses on community connections and also, with greater personal attention, the slow waltz with her mother’s dementia.
- Post-Election: A Writer’s Lessons Learned - December 27, 2016
- The World Is Tired - September 6, 2016
- The Courtship of Writing - July 12, 2016
