Post #5 - Catharsis

A lot of writers (myself included) use the term "catharsis to regularly describe the process of writing or the nature of the pieces they write. I have often said that writing is my alternative to expensive therapists and medications.

There is nothing wrong with using the craft of writing to help sort out feelings and establish better mental organization. Quite a few therapeutic techniques include writing a letter to express feelings, and there is a level of release granted by putting all your thoughts down on paper. These are good things that I encourage.

What I do not encourage is that this process be half-assed because you haven't quite sorted out all your feelings and ideas. People experience trauma (death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, a transition in the life) and they often get a grasp on the situation, enough to passably survive, but they do not go the necessary later steps to really sort things out and shore up their mind about the problem BEFORE they start writing.

Writing about the problem is a tool to help you find your answers. This sort of writing is deeply emotional and personal, and I would advise against turning the problem you haven't finished handling into blockbuster fiction.

Here's why.

There is a difference between writing ABOUT the problem, and writing THROUGH the problem.

Writing about the problem brings the unsorted, messy, sometimes painful feelings to the surface, allowing you to persist and exist in their chaos. You then add to these feelings all the memories that you may be surprised you stored away in your head (sensory memories, portions of conversations etc) and you get the "fun" of reliving that ache and pain and confusion.....for what purpose?

Being able to detail the trauma, essentially reliving it but now with the gift of adjectives and clauses, does NOT demonstrate that you've accepted the reality of the trauma and have moved past it.

Writing through the problem cares less about the details and more about asking yourself the progressive questions that suss out the nature of your feelings, consequences and allows you to develop any sort of plan (preferably a rational one) so that you can move forward in your life. Key here is the difference that you are not digging up the wound and not picking at the scabs.

Now this will often make someone say, "But my problems are the fuel for my writing! I'm writing about my life and what's happened in it!" To which I retort:

"What will you do when you've solved your problems? What's the next fuel?"

The issue is this -- you can keep using your problems to drive your writing, to tap into those emotional springs, and not resolve them....or you can solve your problems, get past them, stop bringing them up into your life and move forward, looking where you can take your writing with the problems behind you.

Your choice.