Writing as a form of therapy

Sometimes it stinks being a writer. You can’t take a day off (well, of course, in reality you can, but you won’t get paid) and you have to write your articles even if you don’t feel like writing.

I recently felt that way. I didn’t feel like writing – so I relied on my favorite form of personal therapy when things are not going the way I had hoped.

Photo credit: Curtfleenor

I wrote. But I wrote the stuff I wanted to write.

It sounds odd but writing to me is like a form of therapy to another. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t “see” things. When a friend of mine feels down and goes to a fabric store, she talks about how a bolt of fabric would look great as a vintage A-line dress, I just don’t see it.

What I see is a bolt of cloth.

When another friend takes her blue mood into her studio and comes out with a wave-washed beach scene that just screams overcast, I don’t know how she does it.

What I see is a bunch of paints.

I don’t understand how they get from here to there.

But when I’m in pain, when I’m low – just lead me to a keyboard. I seem to be able to channel thoughts and ideas that I didn’t even know I had.

This past weekend I had such a mood. I’ve mentioned it before, we have Lyme in the house and as a result we have some sick kids. Really sick kids. The problem with Lyme is that like the holes in a dyke, once you get one leak patched up, another one pops up.

It’s never-ending.

It’s exhausting.

So I did what I do best. I sat down at my laptop and did some writing. It was the kind of writing I felt compelled to do (not the kind of writing that will get me a paycheck.) I started a blog (yeah, I really need to be involved in another blog right now, she said sarcastically) on what it looked like to have chronic Lyme in the family.

The blog is here: What it looks like to have Chronic Lyme and in it I used the language I had to explain what couldn’t be explained to anyone who hasn’t been there and who doesn’t “get it.”

While I don’t know where the blog will go and I don’t even know how long it will last, like my friend’s dress or painted scene, for now, it fills a need that I am able to very clearly see.

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Wendy Thomas is an award winning journalist, columnist, and blogger who believes that taking challenges in life will always lead to goodness. She is the mother of 6 funny and creative kids and it is her goal to teach them through stories and lessons.

Wendy’s current project involves writing about her family’s experiences with chickens (yes, chickens). (www.simplethrift.wordpress.com)

And, trust me, I’ll keep writing about Lyme disease until everyone understands how important it is to know about it. 

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The unbearable reality of writing about your kids

I know that we’ve touched upon this topic before, but as a writer who writes personal memoir type stories, there is always a careful line to walk when writing about your kids.

In a recent blog post on my site, I wrote about one of my daughters having a hard time at school with some “mean girl” bullies (I know, the worst, right?) I wanted to show how it’s tough being a mama hen when one of your chicks is struggling (I write about chickens, remember?) I was careful to keep the focus on my view and not to misplace feelings of mine onto her.

I try at all times to be respectful of my children’s privacy.

In that same post I mentioned how another one of my kids is really suffering right now. And I mean really.

He’s got chronic Lyme and though he’s been on meds for several months, it was undiagnosed for so long (even though we went to 11 Doctors) that he’s having a rough time of it. Walking is difficult, holding a pen is difficult, his skin is breaking down, he’s got severe fatigue. He should be home but instead he is finishing out his freshman year at college.

My son is nothing short of an inspiration.

As a writer, I want to use his experience (through my eyes) to both inspire people who have this disease and also to warn others about the dangers. Lyme disease is not just a flu you get in the summer that goes away with a dose of medication. If left to proliferate, it can devastate your body.

My son is a living testament to that.

It’s tough because he’s very private, as he’s gotten sicker and sicker he wants less and less people to know.

But as his mom, as he gets sicker and sicker, I want to yell louder and louder.

LISTEN PEOPLE!

ESPECIALLY YOU MORONIC DOCTORS – KIDS ARE DYING BECAUSE NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO DIAGNOSE OR TREAT LYME DISEASE.

LISTEN UP BEFORE ANOTHER PERSON HAS TO UNNECESSARILY SUFFER.

And just as the Whos told Horten -

WE ARE HERE!!!!

But instead of yelling about it, I write about the disease and its impact. I’ve managed to place a few articles on Lyme disease (highlighting other families) and I continue to write, I write, I write material that may never see the light of day but I write.

My son finds an outlet in his studies, each class, each assignment, each test, gives him a goal for which to reach.

I find an outlet in my writing and like it or not, my kids’ stories are, like a beautiful tapestry, woven so tightly into mine that if one were to remove their individual threads, there would simply be nothing left to tell.

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Wendy Thomas is an award winning journalist, columnist, and blogger who believes that taking challenges in life will always lead to goodness. She is the mother of 6 funny and creative kids and it is her goal to teach them through stories and lessons.

Wendy’s current project involves writing about her family’s experiences with chickens (yes, chickens).

They say that anger fuels passion. Consider me passionate about Lyme. 

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