Writers on Writing

            Alice Walker’s thoughts on meditation and how it forms her as a writer speaks to one of two popular schools of thought on writing – to be a writer you have to either experience an interesting life out in the world or have great introspection and isolation.  Walker discusses the latter in this writing, but it seems she stumbled upon this method of finding her voice as a result of a failure in at the former. Walker began meditating while nursing her heart from a split with her husband, yet the beginning of her meditative practice led to her finding and defining her voice as a writer. As Walker puts it:

“Meditation has been a loyal friend to me. It has helped me write my books. I could not have written, ‘Possessing the Secret of Joy’ (about a woman who is genitally mutilated) without it; writing ‘The Temple of My Familiar’ (my ‘great vision’ novel of how the world got to be the way it is) would have been impossible. ‘The Color Purple’ owes much of its humor and playfulness to the equanimity of my mind as I committed myself to a routine, daily practice.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/23/arts/23WALK.html

I don’t pretend to be a writer on the level of a great like Alice Walker – I often don’t even consider myself a writer at all. However, as I have written more over the past few years for work, and the past few months for school, I have found that I am leading a much more quiet life.

I live and sleep by the buzz of the television, the vastness that is the Internet and the blare of constant background music, if for no other reason but companionship.  I have always needed background sound and light for comfort. Though I haven’t taken up a serious meditation routine like Alice Walker, I have pledged more time to silence, particularly when I write and when I am asleep. I think committing to more time in silence, has equated to more time with myself. This has resulted in more inclusion of anecdotes in my writing. I made the observation about mid-term that I had been beginning most of my writing with a personalized narrative to illustrate what I was attempting to prove in my overall writing. I would go on to present fact or research but the introduction and the tone of my writing tends to be set my personal experience with the subject. I attribute finding this comfort in sharing personal experience and background partially to the time that I have been spending with myself. Walker describes meditation taking her back to a favorite childhood place. I would describe silence as a place to allow memories to resurface and find new life in whatever I’m writing. I have found that silence has allowed me to discover and evaluate who I already am as a communicator while I learn new methods and applications.

It took me a long time to find what is I am good at, what I want to be and by what means I want to apply myself. As I commit more time to myself I have learned that a portion of who I am as a writer already, is someone who shares some things about myself to express my thoughts. In the social media environment, sharing often starts a conversation, and a conversation is exactly what I interpret social media to be.