Wednesday, June 1, 2016

IWSG June 2016 - Writer(s) in the family...

(We join the regularly-scheduled-meeting-of-the-Insecure-Writers-Support-Group, already in progress...)

This past weekend I had a chance to visit with Wit's family again.  For those unfamiliar with Wit, that's the alias I gave my cousin last year.  She was my writer-in-the-family that I got to talk to about this sort of thing (writing).  She also happens to be fifteen.

So it turns out her sister likes writing, too.  Her sister, whom I'll call Soul, is younger than her.  I had no idea, until this visit, that she likes writing, too.  So it kind of derailed what I had intended to talk about during the visit.

I ended up, briefly, chatting with Soul about writing.  Turns out she likes writing in notebooks.  I told her that's good.  I'm told the act of physically writing is a good creative outlet in and of itself.  It stimulates the brain to think in ways it wouldn't when, say, typing on a keyboard.  I told her, truthfully, that sometimes I begin new stories by writing some of it out in notebooks I carry with me everywhere.

And that's pretty much the extent of my writing conversations from the weekend.  Never even touched base with Wit.  The weekend ended with possible plans to meet up again for the July 4th weekend.

I'm talking to you about this, not to remind you about Wit, or to tell you about her sister Soul, but because I'm sad about chickening out.  When I talked about Wit last time, I was flush with the idea that I had a writer in the family.  At last!  Their mother, and her sister, have always been among my kindest supporters in the family, and so it was nice to know they were fostering little writers of their own.  I mean, despite what the Internet may have you believe, writing is a lonely calling.  Isn't that the whole point of the IWSG?  (Maybe it's just me, but isn't the group better for alleviating loneliness than insecurity?  Well, it should be.)

Then again, I'm not sorry, because I knew exactly what I was thinking throughout the weekend.  I didn't want to come off like I was desperately trying to connect with them.  From my own experience, conversations are best when they happen organically.  I spent nearly a decade away from Wit and Soul as it is.  They grew up considerably in the time I was away!  So really, I'm just getting to know them again.

But it's good to know they like writing.  That's something to work on, right?  And that's what writers always do.  They find something to work on.  And we're always busy, aren't we?

8 comments:

  1. Well, during the next visit, you'll have several possible directions for conversations to go. This time, you just needed to connect with Soul.

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    1. I totally did not deliberately set myself up for this Billy Joel reference, but I guess you're right, this time it was all about Soul...

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  2. I learned not to talk to my family about writing. It's too awkward. Two of my siblings could probably do the same thing I'm doing if they put in the effort. Well maybe not exactly what I'm doing because they're not messed-up enough.

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    1. It's just as well that they don't write, if they're not inclined to.

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  3. Sometimes my family members ask me about my writing, but they don't really want to know about it. The conversation usually turns pretty quickly to things that aren't deep or interesting. Usually it's just the same stuff rehashed.

    In fact a lot of life is a lot of rehash. Now and then I wish I could just chat with a friend over breakfast at the Waffle House. Sadly there are no Waffle Houses in the area where I live and all my real friends live a couple thousand of miles away...

    Arlee Bird
    A to Z Challenge Co-host
    Tossing It Out

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    1. I always find it awkward when someone asks me what I write, because they aren't actually prepared for the response I give them. They want simple answers, and I just can't give them that. That's why I value relationships where I don't have to talk too deeply but can just relax and hang out with them. I haven't learned how to do that as a blogger yet, obviously...

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  4. I think it's cool you're trying to connect with your cousins. It's pretty cool that they like writing too. My niece and I are the only writers in our family and I love the tingly feeling I get everytimes she tells me I inspire her. In all honesty, we have lots of creative and artistic people in our family so we are all pretty supportive of one another, but there are always those who just don't get it.
    You're right, the IWSG really does help when there's no one around who gets it.

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    1. It's going to be interesting to see how these relationships evolve over the months and years. These particular relatives, like I said (at least I think I did), the family has always been close to, and so I've seen how one generation evolves already, and that's been nice to experience in recent years. Once Wit and Soul are a little older, I'm sure these conversations, if they involve writing or not, will be even more interesting. We'll see...

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