Question 2. What motivates or inspires you?
For those of you joining this blog late, this is the second of three questions about writers and their writing process. During March, I will feature different writers each day, and post their answers. The first question was, "why do you write?" The third question is "How do you overcome writer's block?"
I consider myself a reluctant writer, yet I have become motivated to write for many reasons. I just wanted to learn how to do it. I had become tired of failing to communicate effectively. There were so many topics I wanted to discuss, and I wanted to participate. I wanted to discuss my father's suicide and having epilepsy. I wanted to write about education and art and politics and church and ... and I couldn't write. I also wanted to express my appreciation for people, and I wasn't doing that well either.
I could talk about all these things. I can remember speeches. I can remember conversations, but I struggled when I wrote.
I wanted to be able to communicate with the people I loved. I wanted to tell those people how much I loved them and appreciated them... and I wanted to open my heart without putting my feet in the wrong place. I wanted to make sense.
I also became motivated to write, because I wanted to explain to writers what I saw in my photos. Just as some people are poor readers, some people are "visually illiterate." Some people look at the same photo and read slowly or below grade level, so to speak.
So, I am motivated to write so that I can explain how I see the world. It might take too long for me to explain here... Reading from left to right, this image discusses how people deal with death as a community, yet we isolate children, perhaps because they are too young to understand. Meanwhile, one youngster shares his toys with another child; the toys and the youngster both have outstretched and welcoming arms reminding us of the web of life, along with the color red on an otherwise grey day. There is more about grace and light, something I see in a moment; something I try to communicate. Something I hope I can communicate in words when others do not understand my images.
I do not know if I have translated my imagery well. But I am motivated to keep trying. Motivated to keep connecting.
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