October Post for IWSG

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This month’s optional question?

How do major life events affect your writing? Has writing ever helped you through something?

Depends on the major life event. The birth of a baby or a move? At best, I get in about half of what I did before. At worst, I try to write one sentence every day, if only to keep up the habit. At its very worst, such as when I have a sick infant or toddler, all writing stops.

Death in the family? I don’t write. The last time I tried to write after the death of a loved one, the story got so morbid I found I couldn’t go on and I couldn’t bring myself to tear it out, either. So, yeah. Writing waits until after some time has passed.

As for if writing has helped me through something, yes, it has. Sometimes even before the event has occurred.

Just one of the strange things about writing, I guess.

Writing has helped me figure out how I feel about the events in my life, the ordinary and the enormously painful. It’s helped me figure out what I believe and what I actually know, rather than what I think I know. It’s helped me see things from a perspective I had never considered and that’s helped me remain understanding during times when I might have been far less so. And it’s helped me keep faith in myself, in others, and in God in ways that I think would have been impossible otherwise.

What about you? If you write, how does writing help you? If not, what’s your favorite coping mechanism?

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