One Woman's Writing Retreat: Alison Lake

A need to write is a hunger to communicate, to connect. The act of writing embodies all the highs and lows of life and the intermediate emotions. To write and complete an inspired piece is exhilaration. A blocked mind and numb fingers cause frustration. The everyday push to put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard develops into a life's work. Banality leads to a need for newness in a world where everything has been 'done' before. These sentiments all forge the bond between self and writing.

Writing exists as a constant when all else changes. Humanity's reserve of topics will never be depleted. Instead, it is constantly filled as life replenishes life and humans continue to think, inspire, and create.

Like the body we live in, writing is our own possession which no person or event can remove from our lives. We own it forever. The empty mailbox and the inevitable rejection letters still cannot undermine the drive to construct a product of the mind from inception to finale.

Boredom, inspiration, excitement, anger, calm observation, and curiosity all inspire the writer within. The writer observes, categorizes, and listens. Every writer is different: one writer excels in a world of chaos while another waits for an uncluttered day to empty the mind's weight onto the page.

Any person who desires to write can become a writer. Some people are born writers and others grow into the craft. Others stop being writers because their inner voice has been silenced. Writing is a sense which sharpens with use. Not only do words flow more quickly from the fingers with frequent practice, but the writing brain oils its wheels around the clock. Even sleep's dreams and images coalesce into meaningful patterns from which ideas spring. After a dream is broken, the writer's fingers tingle with the urge to capture a thought before it disappears into the night.

Confidence in the validity of one's thoughts helps strengthen the impact of words. Belief in oneself is all that is needed for permission to write. Age and experience are secondary. To write from within is to write while we live.

Alison Lake writes for magazines and newspapers. Her second book, Living Off Balance, is due out in fall 2005.