A Writer’s Dream Therapy

By Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor for Southern Writers Magazine

Do you have a “Dream” that has haunted you for years? Have you moved on it or have you yet to start. If you have moved you may feel it was not to be but you may need to take a closer look.     

Many times when chasing a dream we run headlong into what we assume is a brick wall. It can easily look that way with writers. We have to go beyond critiques, proposals and denials. Each in itself could be taken as the end of the dream but we must look closer. Go back and once again study each item that sent you off course. Look at it objectively as if it was not referring to your work but to that of a friend. Then look at how you would explain to a friend the message being sent. This may not only take the sting out of it but it may open your mind to the change or new direction suggested. It is a way of going around the road block. As painful as it may be you need to revisit that road block and consider your next move.

Another possibility for putting your dream on hold is you simply have put it on the back burner. Edgar F. Roberts said, “Every human mind is a great slumbering power until awakened by a keen desire and by definite resolution to do so.”  Obviously at one time you came to the realization you had “a keen desire” and a “definite resolution” to follow your dream. You had a passion and it was enough to pursue the dream. Maybe that road block hurt you to a point you sat back and did not want to chance the pain again. That is understandable but it can be overcome.

Some years back after having surgery, my doctor enrolled me in physical therapy so I could make a speedy recovery. Physically it worked but there were mental benefits as well. First and foremost I learned the way I felt while recovering was normal. I learned others were there that felt as I did. It became very consoling to find there was nothing particularly wrong with me that was not normal after such surgery. The same could be true in any situation to find this is the norm. It was a mental relief to find this is the way it works, the way I should feel, this is business as usual. Although you don’t have a doctor to send you to writer’s therapy there is help if you seek it out. Where can you go?

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people that rekindle the human spirit." Albert Schweitzer

You may have someone out there that can rekindle your spirit. Someone you share with and get hope from. If not I would suggest you seek such a person and I am certain you can find them at a local writers group. In these groups you will find you feel like you do because it is normal. You will also find ideas to overcome not only these feelings but the roadblocks in your writing career. There are people there who have been through what you are going through and can assist you with your journey. Look to them. They are willing and ready to assist you in rekindling your spirit.