Introduction

THE JOY OF WRITING

9/02

It is a quiet afternoon. Goose, my roommate’s dog, lounges on the bed beside me, patient for the next time he’ll go out. His hazel eyes glance directly into mine. Outside, a group of sparrows has landed on the branches of a tree and sway listlessly in the breeze.

I have decided to write about where I am as straightforward as possible. This is part of a daily writing exercise to keep the movement of my pen and mind at play while the next days, weeks, and months pass. I will refrain from rules, except for one which is that that I must attempt to write five pages a day. The only objective fot this exercise is to write and it may be about anyone or anything. I intend to share personal stories from the last several years and recent surprises and experiences that have made me the person I am and continue to be. I will refrain from conclusions or broad statements and instead ask questions and provide observations. This is an exercise in input rather than output. This work is not to share and that indeed may be the most difficult of all. But I want to free myself of expectations, mainly expectations of myself, and I want to be as honest as possible. I want to free myself of any repurcussions that my honesty may bring. This exercise and practice is for myself alone. It is in the spirit of discovery, exploration, and honesty.

A little less than two months ago I turned twenty-nine. The prospect of thirty does not worry me as much as it probably should. The reason that it doesn’t worry me is because I recognize how quickly things can change, and that if I continue to work hard and towards my own goals, I will arrive at them when I am supposed to arrive at them. It is out my control how old I am. The only thing that I am in control of is the work that I put in, and where that work will lead me. If anything, the older I get, the more experiences that I have, and the more I mature, the richer my work will become. As a writer, and as a person, I am still young, free to make mistakes, and unbound by many reesponsibilities. I am excited for what new opportunities I will take, and for what risks I will attempt.

Over the last few months I have been going back and forth on writing projects and it has frankly been exhausting. I have put too much pressure on myself to produce something when I lack ideas, and I have held on to this idea that I need to produce something over these next several months. One idea was to write about a trip I took to Europe with as much detail as possible, but each time I retured to it I became discouraged and failed to see a meaningful purpose to the writing. The other project idea was to write essays and to go back into old journals and dig up other essays to produce a collection of writing that I could call “selected writings”. However, both of these ideas are unnatural and have failed to invite a freedom and space that I am interested in writing with. Which brings us to where we are, which is a style of writing that is a rejection of purpose and instead an invitation. An invitation for ideas. I would like to abandon any preconceived notion of what this writing is, should be, or will look like when it is done. I want the narrative to remain open and inviting and to allow the freedom for myself to write about anything. In this way, I hope to bring myself consistently to a place where ideas may enter, where I may grow as a writer, as a person, and discover more about the way I think and about what I observe in the world around me.

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