DRAFTS on drafts
Drafts on Drafts
I have an ongoing love affair with words. Floating around in the air or stamped down on paper, words are expressions of how I feel, what I think and who I am. Words are salvation, art and medicine. They can connect us and separate us while pulling out laughter and tears from cisterns long thought dry; words have the capability to be life-giving and bridge- building. Our souls are invisible like air, but our words are like the wind, they can be felt in our hearts like a breeze on our face. They stir up whirlwinds and they quiet storms.
As a writer, I work to harness words and make them work for me. They fight and they dance, they tear and they heal. I line them up and choose them for their own unique abilities. Writing drafts appeal to me as a work in progress, raw and messy, ink-splotched and coffee-stained. Drafts are a conversation still taking place, my thoughts, and my imperfect renderings. They are subject to change and collaboration, to correction. In essence, they are a work in progress and therefore cannot be judged too harshly. I invite you to join me in writing drafts. Working out our thoughts alongside other writers—professional or hobbyist. If you are published or just love to put pen to paper or finger to key, then dig out an old journal or start a new file and let’s write.
The posts to follow are my drafts on writing, perhaps to polish for publication or just keep for myself like a cigar box of interesting buttons. And other posts will be little demitasse shots—musing on things I love and thoughts on life. Whether we overlap or challenge each other, I want to create a place in your minds for drafts.
What are your thoughts on drafts?
Do they allow you to write and think uninhibited or are you uncomfortable until they are closed up and neatly tied?
Write a draft on drafts. Don't limit yourself to the topic of writing; perhaps your marriage feels like a draft right now or your faith is a run-on sentence or trying a new path feels like an incomplete thought.
Tuck this away and look at six months from now, a year and then five ...
If you feel moved to share your work I invite you to send me a copy of your writing and I will share it here on TYPEset. This process is not about perfectionism. I'm not here to critique, edit, fix, judge or correct your ideas. The intention behind sharing is to be seen and feel connected with a community of writers and readers who may also be living these same experiences.