Abandoned words.
By Dianne Danquah
My best pieces are written in a few days, with little to no edits. I can’t spend weeks writing. I guess that’s an unethical writing practice. We’re told to go over our work and then over it again, refining what we have said, rethinking it and reflecting upon it. That works and is in fact needed, in some cases, but what if I said what I needed to say the first time, what if my words are most authentic in the moment.
Don’t get me wrong, I definitely reread my writing. If I don’t, you would get mismatched words, and appalling grammar. Apart from that, unless I’m expanding on what I’ve said, I don’t like to touch my work. Either the message is clear or it’s not. If it’s not, it’s got to go. Often writers block is seen as the clogged flow of thought and the incapacity to articulate yourself. It’s a sign to pause and revisit. That is the practice for many writers.
On more occasions than one, writers block is a sign for me to put this one on the shelf and leave it unfinished.
Blasphemy.
Surely, I should strive to finish what I have started. However, gold is often on the other side of abandonment. It’s okay if I don’t have anything to say on this. It’s okay if my words simply holt. I don’t want to write using someone else’s words rather than my own. I say gold is on the other side of abandonment because there have been numerous times where I have “forced” a piece and spent time going over and over it, trying to find the “right” words. For example, for the last blog piece, I spent quite a while writing and thinking through one piece. I wrote it, rewrote it, wrote about rewriting it but still wasn’t content. Even after I left it for a final visitation before submission, I still felt compelled to start again with a few days left.
Surely, I’m not about to abandon a piece I’ve spent so much time on. I knew I wanted….. needed to start again but didn’t really know what on. I had written three words down a few days earlier - “I am mosaic”, a fleeting thought that came to mind. I had no intention of returning. But I did, and from those words, a piece that flowed like water was birthed out of me.
In that moment I said exactly what I wanted to say, without much thought. My best pieces are written when I don’t have to think much.
I’m sure we all have ‘abandoned words’, collecting literal dust on paper or digital dust, as our notes app fills up with other words. Maybe one day you will be compelled to return or maybe not. Just remember your true words are never abandoned.
I’ve ran out of words now… so in true fashion I’m going to leave it here.
