The Truth Board

A Blog by the Editors of
The Truth About the Fact: An International Journal of Literary Nonfiction

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The Truth About the Fact: A Journal of Literary Nonfiction is an international journal committed to the idea that excellence in the art of letters can play a vital role in transforming the planet we share.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

It's just me?


Lay the critics to rest. It’s just you.
You and you alone. Count the computer in front of you, the typewriter you punch words into, the keyboard, the screen, the pen in your hand. Whatever it is, that’s all that’s there. You. You have brains, you have a mind, you’ve cultured yourself and have been cultured, you hold memories, thoughts, ideas, learned strengths, natural strengths. It’s all there for you to take full advantage of so take advantage of its presence. It’s a beautiful gift.
Let your mind go. It will. It will surprise you and bring you into focus. There’s no critics behind you watching your every word so don’t plant them there. They’re not. There’s no one online right now reading what you are writing at this moment. This is just you. I will stress this point as much as possible. It’s just you. Realize it.
See. Now you’ve got the idea. It’s a sort of rhythm. You can type to the background beat. Your mind slowly comes into focus with your fingers. The two work simultaneously as you dream up the words, send signals to your fingers, and implement. The words appear in front you less than seconds before they’re dreamed up in the mind. When you get it right, it’s fun. It becomes a game.
The timer’s going to go off in 9 minutes.
Get as much as you can down on that page before it rings. Who cares about what you think others will think of your type? Who cares? No one. This is not going to be published. It’s just you.
There it is again. The recurring reminder to forget the bullshit of the mind and just type. No one but yourself. It’s just you. The words come easier now. They’re not so held up by thought, are they? They just release. Occasionally, you experience the beautiful feeling that comes immediately after typing without thought, where the words came to the page the moment they were realized by the mind. Flow is flowing. What a wonderful way to groove. Baby you have soul. Let it fly free. I know mine will.
5 more minutes.
Road block. Writer’s block. The terms are synonymous. Don’t let thought get in the way. It’s coming to a close. Keep it going, keep the flow as long as it lasts. The groove will prevail. Trust.

By Jordan Bunger

1 Comments:

Anonymous Sean M said...

This is awesome. You take a creative writing exercise and make it a statement on being human. In our culture, with reality TV (where people act like themselves but are being filmed) and social media (where everything you say is permanent and visible to everyone), there is a big temptation to perform life for others and not yourself. I think writing is the perfect medium to challenge this trend.

February 23, 2011 at 4:56 PM  

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