Baring Your Soul

​We have all been awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of an imaginary intruder, the creaking of our house settling, or a noise outside. Our mind quickly attributes it to something we know, something common. We feel safe again.  But what if it’s not that at all? What if every time we place our head down on the pillow and close our eyes, we’re inviting something or some one to join us?

Do I have your attention yet? What am I talking about? I’m letting you into the mind of a writer, a dreamer. Of course, we all can do this. So, what’s the difference. Speaking as writer, we invite and intently listen to the sounds which seem to turn into voices, faces, bodies, and scenes.

Like anyone who keeps a journal, a writer logs these experiences down, but then we go one step further. We publish that journal for the whole world to read. We bare our souls. Am I being a bit overly dramatic? Perhaps, but let’s keep going.

In the vane baring our souls, I will share mine. Here is my process, my journal. The characters in my dreams have conversation with each other and me. I feel as though I am watching an interactive movie and taking notes. Often, I wake in the middle of the night and head to my desk to start typing. I laughingly tell people that rewrites are when the characters come back and tell me where I got it wrong. The story finally unfolds over time and the journal turns into a novel. There are many more steps, but that’s not the purpose here.

Why am I sharing all this? I think it’s important to remind all of us that we are creative in our own way and all we have to do is let it happen and listen to it. The world around moves so quickly and harshly at times that creativity is a built-in escape. We need to take advantage of it. Conversely, we need to also take advantage of the creative gifts that others have laid bare their souls to give us. Creativity comes in some many different forms and accessibility is endless that it’s almost criminal not to take advantage of it—only my opinion.
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The Sumerians first wrote down words to record agricultural trade agreements and shortly after that they progressed to poetry. They saw the value of creativity in the written word. Today the written word is used in every imaginable way. How will we use it in the future? How creative can we be?
I hope I was able to tease your creativity and steal you away from the world for a minute. Maybe some day soon you will bear your soul.