Originally, today,  I was going to talk about how the writing process is a mystical experience.  Somewhere, we don’t really know where, we find ideas, inspiration, new ways of sharing information through symbols that taken together create words, then sentences and complex ideas.  The everyday process of writing is mystical, whether our writing is well received by others or not.

Today, I was going to only write about how special it is to be a writer, but then I read a post by one of my favorite bloggers, Leigh Gaitskill at BlueGrass Notes.  She’s doing something fun with creating another blog new to honor the part of herself that is not interested in only the spiritual. Leigh’s post reminded me I often enjoy writing that is sarcastic, snarky and sometimes insulting, and that’s why I subscribe to all kinds of blogs.  I also believe that for some people, sharing their snarky side is their “mystical path” forward.

Sometimes, I underestimate my own snarkiness. One day out of the blue, my oldest son  who was in first grade at the time asked me for the definition of the word sarcasm.  He then asked me if I thought that I was sarcastic.  Before I could answer, he said, ”you’re sarcastic.”  The truth be told, both of my sons, at 9 and 13 are masters of sarcasm, and increasingly, snarkiness.  We are a family that enjoy irony so much as a family, that sometimes it seems to be our favorite way of bonding, next to traveling.  Fortunately, both of my sons have been wonderful, adventurous travelers since their were little, but that’s for another blog.

Many of my favorite writers are both mystical and bitter, serious and funny, heartbroken and whole.  Their genius comes from being able to share these different parts of themselves in an integrated fashion. Yet, as writers sometimes the best way to integrate  the various parts of ourselves is to differentiate the different strands of ourselves first. 

This insight is an opportune one for me. For one of my important short-term goals is to clean up my novel. An important part of that work is to allow my writing to have a voice that is layered with the mystical and the sarcastic, the brazen and the subtle.  I’m going to take a look at the different voices that need to represent the mystical and snarky within.

What about you?  Are there some disparate parts of yourself that need to find their way into your work and life?