Reflections
I know . . . such a cheesy title. As I began thinking about this week’s essay, the word reflection showed up many times and in different functions. I was forced to reflect! But let’s back up to the first part of that last sentence, “. . . this week’s essay.” That’s the part I want to focus on because for the last year, except for two times (for which I excused myself) I have written and published an essay each week on my Silver Linings site. That’s 50 essays and approximately 38,000 words give or take a paragraph and not including a couple of repeats I dragged out and dusted off. It’s practically a whole book!
So, that’s a big reflection—on why I did it, what it means and will I continue.
The word—or function--also came up as I was planning for my classes—both the community college ones and the Writual ones. For the college students, I’ve been trying to get them to really reflect on their own work as a way to help them incorporate writing into their academic life and not see it as an additional subject. For the last couple of years, the midterm I give is basically a reflection on their writing to date—their papers, freewrites and any specific writing projects I assign. The responses I’ve been getting are rewarding—it feels like they get it. They describe seeing their own writing improve over time and compare it with the writing they did in high school—if they remember high school!
In my Writual program, the goal is all about reflection. Whether or not the writers are exploring memoir, starting a novel or just getting back into the practice of writing again, reflection on what it means to be a writer occupies most of the writing and discussion. For some, writing is something that was always encouraged and supported, while others (of us) were often told we were “bad” writers; our poems didn’t rhyme, our stories didn’t make sense, we had terrible spelling. All of those things can put off an impressionable child or adult who is simply using writing to express themselves. Writing is really just processing, but I spent a whole other essay on this already and won’t repeat myself (but you can check it out here).
As I thought about my own year of writing, I thought of a quote I often use, and, it turns out, have attributed erroneously. It’s this one: “How do I know what I think till I see what I say?” I always attributed it to WH Auden, but in the interest of accuracy, I Googled it and found out that although Auden did refer to it, it was first found in the EM Forster book Aspects of the Novel in 1927. Joan Didion has a similar quote: "I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear." Both quotes immediately suggest that writing and reflection go hand-in-hand.
So, I guess upon reflection—and in answer to my own questions—I feel pretty good about this last year of writing. Why did I do it? I created a challenge in order to stay committed to my writing practice and so far, I did. What does it mean? Well, that I succeeded, but also that I imparted a level of importance to my writing that I’m not sure I recognized before. Will I continue? Honestly, I hadn’t really thought about that until this minute. Producing a weekly essay has kept me tethered to a creative practice I get a lot out of, but not only that—a practice I need. Caroline Leavitt recently tweeted: “Writers, do you feel if you do not write, that you will go insane?” I responded, “I’m pretty sure I’ve proven it.”
(Sorry, family . . .)
But, yeah…I’m not quitting now! I know a lot of other writers are having a lot of different kinds of success with their writing, but for me—now—this success feels pretty good. And I literally couldn’t have done it without all of you—your reading, your comments, your little hearts. All of this success reflects right back on you—so thank you.
And now, a message from Substack: You can now read Silver Linings in the new Substack app for iPhone.
With the app, you’ll have a dedicated Inbox for my Substack and any others you subscribe to. New posts will never get lost in your email filters, or stuck in spam. Longer posts will never cut-off by your email app. Comments and rich media will all work seamlessly. Overall, it’s a big upgrade to the reading experience.
The Substack app is currently available for iOS. If you don’t have an Apple device, you can join the Android waitlist here.
One more little heart, just like Miss Trudy's! Congrats. ❤️
Here’s another little heart ❤️ Congratulations on one year!