Writing changed my life. Here are a few words about my own experience and what I remember after all these years.
In July, I asked myself the question Why write? and I ended my story with this quote from Marguerite Duras:
Writing is also not talking. It's shutting up. It's howling quietly.
I find myself completely in these words because they express what I sometimes feel when I write stories. Writing is howling quietly. That's a beautiful phrase. Powerful and soft at the same time. That's kind of how I see writing. A strong message, expressed subtly and gently.
Today may be the time when you too could take the plunge. It's a reality, all those who tried their hand at writing enjoyed the adventure. There are even some for whom writing has changed the course of their lives. I'm one of those people. What if it happened to you, too?
I would like to tell you about my own experience, hoping that it will inspire you and encourage you to write stories.
Small step backwards
I've been writing for a long time. I still remember that short story I wrote in French class at the beginning of the college. The knight with the magic sword. That was the name I gave him. It was supposed to be two or three pages at most, but I was very proud at the time. Especially since I had printed it, so I could hold it in my hands and show it to whoever wanted to read it!
I found my work in a souvenir box last year. I know she's still here today, lost somewhere in the middle of old class photos and other school business. It makes me feel good to know she exists.
When I was a kid, I loved knight stories very much, like many boys I guess. I remember a story that my father used to tell me before I slept and that I almost knew by heart. She recounted the adventures of a little man who wanted to become a knight and had a beautiful wooden sword. His name was Guillaumet.
I am part of this generation that experienced the birth of blogs. When I started writing and publishing on the Internet, it was mostly to talk about music, my favourite theme at the time. I was studying to become a sound engineer, so music was a topic I loved to talk about.
I had to try just about every blogging platform until Twitter and then Medium in 2012. Of course, Medium was a revelation to me. Of course, I'm not talking here about my collaboration with the company, although it was two wonderful years (some will remember the publication Medium France), but about what the platform has brought me and still brings me as an author.
It was five years ago already, I was discovering the tool that would totally overturn my relationship with words. A space perfectly designed for writing that offered me incredible visibility for my stories and the opportunity to discover and exchange with authors from all walks of life. On this last point I am not telling you anything, most of you know Medium well.
During all these years I have been writing in a more or less regular way, always with the desire to tell authentic stories by putting forward my own experience. My adventure continued with the creation of the publication Scribe, giving birth to a nice community of authors who seem to share my vision of writing.
That is about where we are today. Why am I telling you all this?
My writing practice and what I learn from it
I've taken this little step backwards so that you can understand a little better how I got here and what makes me write with more and more pleasure.
My story is one story among many, but if I give you a brief overview of it, it is because I am convinced that it could help you, or at least help those who tend to think that there is always a need for a pretext to write.
There simply is not. Even if there is often a reason for writing, you should not feel illegitimate to do so if you suddenly feel like it.
At one point in my life, I began to write to express what was buried in my heart. It was almost therapeutic. That is still the case today. To create, isn't it to externalize a part of ourselves?
Writing also helps to get to know each other better. It is as if we were sowing small stones behind us to be able to find our way back a few years later.
As if one stretched a thread year after year, taking care never to break it. You know he's there, and you can hold on to him when you feel like things might get better.