My
favorite part of hosting author signings and discussions is fielding the
questions that come after reading from my short story collection, The Loose Lip Brigade. Because I usually
advertise my website, Feed Me Daily, in these event promotions, people come
with any number of ideas and curiosities about who I am and how I write. Feed
Me Daily is mainly a blog about my struggles with Depression, eating disorder
addictions, and general growing-up fits and starts. But I tell these autobiographical
tales through the lens of hope and loving kindness, connecting the tumult with
action and mediation that resonate with my readers and offer them a sense of
belonging. Writing – either fiction or nonfiction – is the most important way
that I have learned I am not alone.
The Loose Lip Brigade is similarly themed. The
collection explores the internal push-and-pull plaguing its characters in
moments of anxiety. There is inaction and action, impulse and desire, fear and
self-doubt. As the book’s title alludes, “loose lips sink ships” and many of
the characters find themselves with uncomfortable impulses that often betray
their sense of self with un-gratifying consequence. So, like me, like my struggles, the
characters of The Loose Lip Brigade
get in their own way. Don't we all?
The life
that many of us strive to create for ourselves, one fostering our creativity
and keeping us motivated, can often feel elusive. There is always more to be
done, there is always someone else doing it better – at least that’s how we
perceive it. Paralysis can become a replacement for comfort. Our urge to
retreat may weigh heavily as the whirlwind of self-criticism swamps our minds
and uproots our more centered thinking.
Have you
tangoed with demons? Have you also struggled to suppress an impulse while
shrinking from desire or become paralyzed, overwhelmed? These are questions
resonating pages of my collection. Escape there, and connect. Feel how real we
all are. Love. Sex. The facade of ok-ness. Misplaced anger. Above all,
hesitation. The same hesitation so many of us feel towards that blank white
page.
Why do
imagine our muse to be so fickle and frustrating? Why is uncertainty so
restraining?
To
create the life I want for myself requires self-awareness and the commitment to
self-affirmation. Inspiration ebbs and flows. And like the tides, it can surge
and froth and feel endlessly invigorating. And it can also lap at the shore, without
power, simply waiting. It is then that we question whether it will ever return
to full churning.
It would
be exhausting to be constantly flooded with our creativity. So why do we berate
ourselves at those times when the waters are calm and our writing an
exceptional effort? Why do we plaster our walls with diagrams and stuff post-it
notes in every corner of our lives in order to be ready for the next swell of
inspiration, clinging and grasping?
The
truth is, we are allowed to trust our creative energy. It is an eternal well
whose water we don't need to hoard. Simply respond to the present, frenzied or
still, and know that this part of you will never fade.
So be
ruthless and brave. Acknowledge the hiccups, make mistakes, sit on the couch
(but not forever). Through our vulnerability, our true voice becomes so much
more attractive to readers. It’s too bad that the characters of The Loose Lip Brigade have not all
learned the same lessons as their creator.
Preferred point of purchase: lulu.com
Feed Me Daily (personal blog and website):Feed Me Daily
Goodreads: Author Profile
Author Bio: Julia Newman is author of the short story collection, The Loose Lip Brigade. Before writing, Julia worked in film with Lena Dunham oof HBO's "Girls" and on the set of "Beasts of The Southern Wild." Her website, Feed Me Daily is a creative force in the online worlds of women's health, mental illness, recovery, and humor. She lives near Boston, where she studied Creative Writing at the Harvard Extension School.
Enter to Win The Loose Lip Brigade Paperback at Goodreads [ends May 14]
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