Cynthia's Bold Move

Photo:  Roots.  Griffin Island, on the Ohio River

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hate

this wretched willow soul of mine,

patiently enduring, plaited or twisted

by other hands.  --Karin Boye

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Cynthia, of Sorting the Pieces, recently did an excellent entry about a bold move she recently made.  She bought her first spaghetti strap blouse.  "So today's little purchase broke all the rules," she writes.  A turtleneck lover (me too!) now in her 40's, she's finally giddily showing off a little (okay a lot) of skin.

I've had that exact experience with clothes.  The feeling of liberation I get from buying--and wearing--something out of my usual habit is like riding a rocket to the stars.  It's no small matter.  Our bodies are our home.  When we change the way we present our home, we're saying something powerful about ourselves.  Something in our unconscious is trying to become conscious.  Tired of "patiently enduring" in our sensible clothes. our spirit is yearning to be free. 

May I suggest a correlation with writing?  When you are writing in your "true" voice, it's like refusing to patiently endure by writing in the voice we think is "acceptable."  In our writing, we need to be lions, as Brenda Ueland said.  We need to dress our words in a spaghetti strap  blouse. 

Of course, the next step is let our words go naked.

It's embarrassing at first, then it's like really being home.

I had this experience just the other night with my new writing project.  I had created 60 "new" pages, which were closer than the other 150 or so to being what I needed to say.  Then a lightening bolt hit, and--I don't care how stupid or trite this sounds-- I saw the spaghetti strap blouse hanging in the store window of my soul.  I bolted out of bed at 5:30 in the morning and started writing furiously.

As I wrote, I kept saying, "You can't write that."  And "So and so won't like it."  And "This isn't what you first envisioned."  And "it's going to be hard to sell this in the marketplace."  And "my goodness, where did that come from?"  And "Theresa, you're so naughty!"

That's when I knew I was on to something.

Allen's grandmother has a name for "go-for-it" women.  She says they're "Nasty-Nice."

Well, that's what I want my writing to be--Nasty-Nice.

Here's to spaghetti strap blouses, Cynthia!