THE ESCAPE ARTIST- An expose of finding the writers voice within

Last week I dreamed my writing was being channeled through me by a TV commercial announcer. I swear it’s true. I panicked, and when I looked at my reflection in the mirror, I knew I was experiencing an identity crisis.

I decided to goggle Carl Jung, often referred to as C. G. Jung, who was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. I was hoping to find a diagnosis or interpretation of my dream. I was looking specifically for Carl Jung’s interpretation on repression. Thinking that the voice in my dream was trying to tell me something I was emotionally surpassing in my unconscious mind. What I found made me realize I was in denial over issues in my past that had absolutely nothing to do with my writer’s voice. Yet, I was still unsatisfied.

Then I thought “maybe I need to find a writers group.” It is not easy being a lone wolf. I needed to talk about the process, explore writing with likeminded individuals. I went on the internet and researched admissions into my Alma Mata’s, Old Dominion University, M.F.A. program in creative writing. It looked promising so I called one of the professors in the program and talked with her about finding my writers voice. She understood what I was going through and I was elated.  Then reality hit, I had two weeks to submit a thirty page writing sample. I have thousands of pages, but seeing that I was smack in the middle of a writer’s identity crisis I decided to nix the M.F.A. program for the moment. I am searching for instant gratification.

Luckily, I have a good friend who listened to me moan, and did not judge me in my time of despair. She suggested I read the book bird by bird Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott. So I took her advice and ordered it. The book arrived and I found it to be just what I needed when it stated in the first chapter. “Writing is about telling the truth.”

To be continued: