Author Amanda Mininger on Coming Back to Writing

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What are the things that prevent you from writing? What are the things that nudge you to jump back into the fray? On her blog, Amanda Mininger, who’d recently finished revising the draft of her second novel, reflects on writing’s cyclical nature and the need for self-expression.

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I’m coming back to writing because it used to be that it could help me process my emotions, learn about myself, learn about others. But I am weary of others, weary of myself. And my emotions are on lockdown until I jab their soft underbellies with a choir singing Om So Hum, and only then do they release themselves and course in rivulets down my cheeks.

My grandmother died. I want to write about her. I cannot find the words.

And so I cry.

And yet everything is bound up. I don’t know from one month to the next what will make itself known. Where are my old notebooks with my old stories and essays? Where are those old swords piercing the veins of truth? But when I read them, I don’t recognize the words anymore. Who was I back then? What did I dream about? Where did I go?

I’m coming back to writing. Because I have to.

Read Amanda’s essay

What things have the power to pull you back into writing (a story, a blog post, a poem)? Share your experiences in a comment.

43 Comments

  1. A good novel always does the trick. Reading a book in one sitting makes me have sparkly ideas to write down, and go into the linguistic depths. Recently read actor-author Ethan Hawke books. Great reads.

    Liked by 11 people

  3. The magic that the words create has the ability to attract me to writing.Well, the fact that it can help me create a whole new world altogether just by the right articulation fascinates me.Also the best part about writing is that every writing is different in its own way,no matter what genre it belongs to.It helps the reader find his own perspective in the way he desires it to be and at the same time helps him understand the author’s point of view.It is an emotion in itself.It is such a delicate craft which is capable of making a whole new magnitude of change provided it is interpreted it the right aspects.For me,Writing is my passion, it is a flame that ignites deep within me and never will I ever allow that flame to be dulled.Coming back to writing is always that indescribable feeling that helps me vent out, calm down or even feel ecstatic for absolutely no reason or maybe the fact that I could pull my thoughts together and put it down to writing.Writing is, was and will always be that one emotion which everybody can connect to and which will connect everybody.

    Liked by 14 people

  5. I always came back to writing because it was easier for me to get lost in my own little world than face the reality of anything. Nowadays I have that under control and I write for the sheer love of it. I still delve into fiction, but I like to hit on topics that are really real in hopes to help and inspire others. Writing for me is definitely a life saver.

    Liked by 13 people

  7. Actually, for me, it wasn’t that my emotions were bound.
    I just couldn’t express myslf well in front of people. Its either they say,It talk too much. Or something else…
    Slowly, but surely I started loosing my purpose for life. But through my blog and my everyday write ups, I get to express myself to me, the blog community and the world.
    I am happily and proudly a blogger

    Liked by 8 people

  8. Great read. I am an avid reader, and I find I get lost in other’s words easily. For me, writing is a release. Inspiration comes from music or emotion or just the beauty in mundane life. It’s the discipline to stay with the writing that I lack.

    Liked by 10 people

  10. I’m a struggler myself, battling the dry times of no writing. But my reasons are my own dark moments. I too have notebooks of written thought, yet not my heart. That, I keep to myself. Maybe one day, I will write not only from what I know but from the dark nights of my soul. Thank you for sharing and I’m sorry for your loss.

    Liked by 7 people

  13. Your Grandmother must have been wonderful; you’ll get the words down when you’re ready. As with ice cream, too much of a good thing can spoil the taste.

    Liked by 5 people

  16. I’m most often pulled back to writing by music. The right song will find me and I am finally taken enough out of myself, out of my head to allow the stories to find their words.

    Liked by 8 people

  17. I dabbled with writing poetry in the last cohple of years in school. Pursued it for a while in college and then slowly it petered out to jotting a few thoughts, random rhymesand a few half-written essays. And thenthen everything stopped.No thought, no idea, no event could persuade me to pick up the pen again.
    Then a couple of years ago,the warm fild of friends tempted me to gingerly test waters again. Those self-concious, hesitant steps turnes into a torrent of gushing emotions. It unlocked the recesses which were buried within and I have been writing continuously since then. I allow the words to dictate my course and believe me seeing words take on a life of their own is very liberating!

    Liked by 8 people

  19. Writing to me has been so emotionally therapeutic! As a Depression and suicide survivor, only writing can get to the painful ways people have hurt me. There is no other way. It is the most honest expression of myself because no one can say anything against my truth. And, as a #metoo sexual abuse survivor I was never told to speak nor write. Now, I write and hope to have the courage to speak on my sexual abuse story one day. Thank you for your blog on writing. I couldn’t agree with you more!

    Liked by 13 people

  22. I feel for you and know the feeling from experience. I have too lost a loved one recently, and after about a month of mourning, and processing my feelings, something suddenly clicked within me, i started to write again TODAY and now i am filled with wonder and joy of writing. I think i can now finally finish my book and now i started my blog also! I think that our feelings are so intertwined with our lives that they manifest from us at some point in the form of art, and what is more art than writing. Welcome back and stay in the path of writing and everything will fall in its place and we will be ok =)

    Freelance (started today) Journalist & Writer From Finland:
    Joni Enroth

    Liked by 7 people

  24. Any time I step away from writing for a season, I start getting a growing urge to get back into it. I can’t not write for long; it’s ingrained in me.

    Liked by 9 people

    1. Lois, I think in some ways painting with words is better in that it helps the reader use their imagination to “see” what world you are creating.

      Liked by 6 people

  27. I use to hate the Vietnam War. In fact the whole country had a love/hate with it. Note: that Hollywood avoided the movies about the war for years following it. Then Full Metal Jacket was produced and the flood gates open. You even have Chuck Norris and Rambo in Vietnam. Sometimes a wound is such that we avoid scratching the scab. Then the scab falls off and we talk about it. When there is a death in the family people avoid discussing it until the burn eases off. I still cannot write about my daughter-in-law or my wife’s cousin because it is still to raw. Slowly time eases the burden and we can talk and write about the people who are gone.

    Liked by 8 people

  29. When my mother died, the words poured out of me. And come to me in my sleep so that I had to keep a note book next to my bed to write them down. It helped then, and helps now when I’m missing her, to read the words again.

    Liked by 8 people

  31. Writing is an expression from your words that what are you expressing from your side.
    Writing is what that you express your emotion from another people that what you feel from deep your heart.
    In my way writing is every thing. I am just a lad and I am new on a bloging site..

    Liked by 8 people

  32. Writing allows me to forgive myself. I get down on myself for just about everything and at the end of the day I have found that I am slowly healing by writing my accomplishment and what has gone on in my day. From there my words overflow, almost to the point of being wonderfully overwhelming, and I am able to write a story, poem or blog.

    Liked by 7 people

  35. This past week was my first time writing in over a year. I used to love spending all my time creating dark, creepy stories or just putting my personal thoughts and feelings on paper but somewhere life got in the way and I lost the drive. For the last couple weeks the thought of writing again crept back into my mind and the urge grew each day until finally I sat down and cleared my head for a few minutes just to let it out and it felt amazing. Sometimes a bit of time away brings you back stronger and with a new appreciation for it.

    Liked by 4 people

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