Writing through the Pain

I had a wisdom tooth pulled this morning and am still in the land of the living, at least for now. People tell me that the pain comes after all of the shots have worn off and it made me think of writing and when the best stuff comes from my soul.

Photo by Vassilis, courtesy of Flickr

When it hurts. When the procedure is anything less than easy. When I feel as if I might be saying too much. That's when the best stuff comes.

I was talking to a client about this just the other day. She didn't want to share the details of her experience, but because she had, gold was the result. I cried when she read the experience, I felt like I was there, that I was a part of the pain and that I could share in hers.

Isn't that what the best books are about? Some tied connection that makes you feel as you have known the writer for years? Isn't great writing all about opening yourself up and getting it all on paper, not holding back because you believe your experience isn't really worth anything?

Photo by spoon, courtesy of Flickr

If you're saying to yourself, "What I write won't matter to anyone else." If you don't pick up a pen and paper because you just can't get started on some of the horrors in your life; allow me to make a suggestion.

Do it anyway. Open your heart. Get those words on paper. Use your five senses, all of your emotion; don't let anything remain hidden. If you discover later that you've shared to much, pull back, but don't short change yourself in the first draft when all of your feelings and experiences should be expressed without walls. Your best stuff is written in that first draft, don't hold back by standing behind the wall.