“I believe that many people who would like to write about certain thorny subjects choose not to because they are afraid they can’t handle the feelings that they foresee will emerge as they work.” ~ Louise DeSalvo

I’ve reread Writing as a Way of Healing by Louise DeSalvo a few times and appreciate her focus on writing as process. DeSalvo believes that writing about our wounds forces us into an awareness that we might not otherwise have about ourselves. Can’t argue with that.

DeSalvo’s book dances with metaphors: writing is a very sturdy ladder out of the pit, balm on the wound, picking and digging, she says. In one place she quotes Wayne Muller: “Our own wounds can be vehicles for exploring our essential nature, revealing the deepest textures of our heart and soul, if only we will sit with them, open ourselves to the pain…without holding back, without blame.”

Okay, but maybe we need to journal first. Journaling and writing for publication are two different things. “A lot of writers start writing while they are still in the compression chamber. Such writing has value, but only for the writer himself. Recording in your journal your deepest inner feelings at the time of heavy compression is great therapy. However, it is rarely publishable,” Ethel Herr reminds us.

We each know how it feels to be stressed, compressed, or blown away by life. Herr says we may think the whole world is ready to hear about it, but it is not.

I’m never ready to share with the world until God teaches me how to handle tension and cope through His grace. Isn’t that what the world wants to know—how to cope? Before we can write objectively, we need healing and perspective. And that takes time.

Back in 1998, I wrote too soon about my father’s death. While my grief was still raw, a dear friend encouraged me to get the story published. She reminded me that writing is healing. It was. But looking back, I could have waited a bit longer before bearing my soul to the world. God graced me with much insight since that sorrowful year.

Yes, according to Ethel Herr, we are ministering prophets with a broken heart. Before we can think about ministering, God wants to bring us to a place of readiness. Readiness comes as we sort, heal, and work through our own brokenness.

Are you experiencing something you feel sure God wants you to share with others? Is it time? Or are you still in the compression chamber? Journal through it until He releases you to publish.

May God show us when and how to write from compression.

Resources:
Writing as a Way of Healing
An Introduction to Christian Writing