There may never be a more momentous time to put words to a page. Maybe you’re plotting a new novella that bears a pandemic backdrop. Or strategically spacing emotional cues in an epic poem that damns racial inequality. Do your song lyrics reflect the angst of political unrest? Are they more powerful that Neil Young’s 1970s protest song, “Ohio”? Readers crave your creativity. Not only are you feeding your soul, but you’re also contributing to the collective well-being of everyone else.
Words help people connect. Shared experiences and words of encouragement help folks stay the course and keep the faith. The pandemic is not an isolated experience. It’s not enough to hear pronouncements on the 24-hour news loop. We need to see the words, read the stories that inspire us to remain sane and optimistic.
Powerful words create energy. Can you harness chaos and use its energy to address 2020’s challenges and triumphs? Encourage writers in your area to collaborate with you. Interview volunteers who’ve never stopped working to improve your town, despite the coronavirus threat, and publish a collection of essays about the strength and resilience of people who live with hope.
The human spirit’s pliancy is time-honored. Now is no different from other harsh times, and there have been harsher times. The stock market crash in 1929. The civil unrest of the 60s and 70s. The world wars, the current wars. The devastation of natural disasters and the death that accompanies them. All of these events, both then and now, bring out the best and the worst in people. Words have recorded such events. Words continue to keep a record. Words inspire us to face challenges beyond our imagination and our control.
As a writer, you control the words. You control the narrative. Open your writer’s toolbox, unpack it, and prepare to reach your readers. Write beyond your comfort zone. Write in a different genre, to a different age group. Learn what you don’t know, then write about it. Encourage others to be open to new experiences.
Take the required precautions and start to travel. Begin with short jaunts at first, and when you’re more confident, inch out even farther. Don’t know where to start? In light of America’s racial reckoning, consider visiting sites that reflect struggles for equality. The South is filled with civil rights sites. Here, you’re invited to explore the grittiness and heartache that still haunts these embattled locations. Even though many civil rights museums are shuttered due to COVID concerns, the parks remain open. If you haven’t walked through Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham, Alabama, put it on your list. As you wander the pathways lined with metal sculptures and monuments, you’ll grieve injustice. You’ll still feel its arms reaching through the long limbs of the live oak trees. You’ll leave with a heavy heart. Transfer these feelings into empowered words.
National and local media outlets will continue to document the 5 W’s (who, what, when, where, and why). Facts feed our minds, inform us, and keep us in the loop, so we can make responsible decisions like where to get a coronavirus vaccine when it’s first available. Facts help us determine which presidential candidate to support in the November election and when to evacuate when one, or two, hurricanes target our homes.
Facts are insufficient, for we desperately need much more to fill our souls. We need poetry to soothe and reassure us, we need fiction to escape our harsh realities, we need song lyrics to renew our spirits. We need to laugh, cry, hope, and believe. Words fill these voids.
Start somewhere. Release your angst and praise your blessings, for nothing productive ever stems from stagnant writing waters. What do you wish to accomplish? If you’re frustrated with COVID-19 restrictions, fire off against the local authorities for establishing such stringent bar and restaurant regulations. Identify the contact who has the greatest chance of responding. Form a coalition and encourage members to write letters, too. Words jumpstart activism.
If you’re disinclined to share your writing, that shouldn’t steer you clear of it. Purchase a rich leather journal and a thick fountain pen. Jot down your random thoughts and ideas. These nuggets may produce novel ideas. Consider mobilizing your words to heal a lingering hurt. Perhaps, an estranged family member yearns to receive a letter from you. Words, more than likely, helped cause the drift, and words can heal the wound.
During a time when volunteering is more warranted than ever before, I challenge you to look around your community. What organizations might benefit from a writing program? Do the seniors at your local assisted-living facilities have a pen-pal program? If not, create one. Find a way to connect school children, or service groups, with senior residents. As restrictions lift in the coming months, pen-pals may have the opportunity to meet face-to-face.
Words are waiting for you. Use them properly, not pejoratively. Write, compose, ponder, and create. Perhaps truly for the first time in your life. Record this year’s flood of frustrations, collisions of dashed expectations.
We’re waiting. We need your words. For me, writing is my breath. What will writing be for you?
