It’s so good to be writing again

 

I’m not sure how many of you reading this are writers. What I mean by this is writing for pleasure, not writing reports for work or completing complicated paperwork. Sometimes, we can get so caught up in ‘real-life’ writing that we forget the joys of writing for pleasure. I completely relate to this, especially after being in higher education for over four years. Writing for me became a chore, something I had to do rather than something I wanted to do. It also became something that I did to achieve praise or a grade rather than for joy or satisfaction.

To put it simply, my relationship with writing changed – and not necessarily for the better.

I did not anticipate my first Young Playwrights Programme workshop to make me so aware of this change. I was reminded of a critical habit – write for the sake of writing.

I used to be so worried about fully refining an idea before I began writing. To me, an idea was not worth working on unless it was absolutely perfect. The problem with this is that I often just didn’t write, which then became a habit, and it snowballed from there.

Our first workshop with playwright Barney Norris gave me the push I needed to try writing without waiting for that flawless idea. This was when I discovered that I needed to write in order to find my idea – not necessarily a perfect one, but that’s okay. This may sound like an obvious concept, but I promise you that this had never occurred to me before this workshop.

Barney reminded me that I don’t have to be perfect all the time and that it is absolutely acceptable to write things that I may never use again. What I had written during the workshop was brief, lacking in detail, unpolished, unclear, and followed no logical chain whatsoever. But I’ll let you in on a secret…I was still proud of it! I had written something, and I really enjoyed doing it! This was so different from my academic assignments, where I had to second guess every word choice, use of punctuation or formality. This was freedom to explore what was really going on inside my head and just get it out on some paper.

I cannot convey to you just how much this workshop made me feel free. I can only liken it to a reawakening of my interest and passion for writing. This programme is not something I should be stressed about; it is all about developing my skills and making mistakes so I can learn. I told our wonderful group a few weeks ago that my goal for this year was to be unapologetic for my work. This workshop helped me see this more clearly; I need to be bold in my writing and be proud of it whether it is solid or senseless.

So, what now? Well, I am making a promise to myself to embrace my ‘bad’ writing. I will make mistakes, I will delete sentences, I will change most words. But the important thing is I will write. I will write even when I do not know what to write and remind myself just how good it is to be writing again.

Erin Craighead

Erin is part of the Bunbury Banter Young Playwrights Programme 2020-2021