The Journey of a Writer - Part 2

Writers Are A Special Blend

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

In my journey as a writer, I’ve discovered that the act of writing is what’s important. I’ve written fiction, poetry and different types of blogs. Reminiscent of my Inner Critic, one of my false beliefs was that real writing was fiction. Don’t ask me why I thought this. We all create and ascribe to false or old beliefs as we trek through life. But to see how my writing has moved me, informed me and inspired me through other mediums, like poetry and blog articles, was somewhat surprising, as well as liberating.

I’ve realized that as writers, we are a special blend, no matter the modality. On my writing trek, I joined a weekly Writer’s Workshop led by Janna Lopez at the beginning of COVID. I found that when taking my writing journey with other like minded people, I experienced all sorts of creativity and voices from my peers. Discovering the beauty that comes out through others’ words in their own unique voices is incredibly inspiring. It makes my Muse stand up and pay attention.

I was ready for the next step in my writing evolution when the Writer’s Workshop popped up. I find that when we’ve reached a milestone in our life, the powers that be present us with opportunities. I saw a Facebook post for the workshop and on a whim decided to check it out. I can’t tell you how much that choice has benefited me in ways I’m still figuring out today.

It opened my eyes, pushed my boundaries and and demolished some of my preconceived notions. The group had writers from all modalities, from different cities, all different places in their craft and journey. Seeing and hearing our differences, and yet at the same time, our similarities made me sit up and say, “These are my people.”

I think as writers, we sometimes think, feel and experience the world in a certain way. We observe the world around us, taking inspiration and creative direction from everyday life. We watch how a person walks, or listen to the sound of a horn blaring, or smell the sweet scent of jasmine and create a picture with words. We evoke emotions and connection with letters, spaces and punctuation. Sometimes we spend hours existing in our heads. I don’t know if I would have thought about it, or even recognized it, until I sat in a writing group and found common ground with words. I was flabbergasted how we all received the same prompt and how everyone created their own unique perspective and voice from the prompts. I have two words for what I experienced.

Mind. Blown.

And then I discovered other writing platforms like Vocal Media and Medium. You see, I had finally hit another milestone. Being brave enough to put myself out there. And what a new world opened up for me! I found more Facebook groups with Vocal and Medium to connect with. And again, I found it confounding, as well as heartening, that in all these groups, we come from different walks of life, beliefs, locations, writing styles and we’ve somehow created a tribe, held together and connected by words.

Because writers are a special blend of people.

We somehow speak the same language, us writers. Because in the end we are not alone. I’m not alone. I’ve found some amazing fellow travelers on this lonely road of words.

And so…

The writing journey continues…

Previously published on July 2021 on Medium.com.

© 2021 A.N. Tipton