#IWSG: The Planets Make Me Write

~ J.S. Pailly

Hello, friends!  Welcome to another meeting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, a monthly blog hop hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosted this month by SE White, Cathrina Constantine, Natalie Aguire, Joylene Nowell Butler, and Jacqui Murray.  To learn more about this amazingly supportive group, click here!

I read somewhere once that every writer has a “thing”—something that they’re desperately trying to say.  It’s something that’s hard to put into words, a feeling or an idea that defies the conventional use of language.  If this “thing” could be said in a simple and straightforward way, we writers would just say it and move on rather than spend the bulk of our lives writing.

What is that “thing” for me?  I wish I could tell you!  It would be so much easier if I could just tell you the “thing” that keeps poking at my mind, but of course I can’t.  All I can say is that my thing has something to do with the stars.  It has something to do with the slow and stately motion of the planets.  It has something to do with that feeling I get whenever I look up at the nighttime sky.

Is it curiosity?  A sense of wonder at the vastness of the cosmos?  I guess that’s part of it, but those words feel wholly inadequate.  Wonder and curiosity are nice, but there’s something more.  There’s so much more!  The planets and stars inspire something in me that simply must be said—something that must be put into words, no matter what—it must be!

But no words ever seem to express this “thing” well enough.  So I keep trying.  I keep writing, in the hope that maybe someday I’ll find a way to say the thing I don’t know how to say, and maybe somebody else will read my words and understand what I’m talking about.

So, friends, do you have a “thing” that you’re trying to say through your writing?  Care to give us a clue (if you can) about what your “thing” might be?

22 thoughts on “#IWSG: The Planets Make Me Write”

  1. James, your question has just resulted in a bit of an epiphany for me. The thing I want to do is to showcase how our great big wide world is made up of a wonderful & diverse population, if we would take the time to enjoy their company & get to know them, if we were open to learning about & from them, and willing to seek out the similarities among our differences. Thank you. It all seems rather obvious now I think about it, but I’d not asked myself this excellent question before.

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  4. Poetic way of looking at it. Brings to mind that question that goes around “why do you write” and for me the answer is always because the people in my head have stories to tell. I write romance so maybe my “thing” is trying to bring some comfort and happy to the world while exploring the human condition and how people interact at different levels.

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    1. That sounds wonderful! I remember reading somewhere that people who read romance tend to be more attentive to their partners. Basically, people imitate what they read and have happier and healthier relationships because of it. So the stories you tell are doing real good for the world!

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  5. My “thing” that I’m trying to say in my writing? I always thought there was something I was trying to say but like you said it’s too hard to put into words. I believe that’s what makes most of us writers, an awe that we can’t define.

    All I can say is that I hope the stories I write will make us realise that if we get too foolish like too many people seem to today that it can bring some really nasty consequences for both self and society. That’s at least the case with the horror I write. Yet, I hope my writing can convey some hope in these seemingly despairing times. That’s really the best I can put it.

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    1. I think you’ve put it well, and that’s a great “thing” to write about. The way I see it, our actions have consequences. It takes extreme human arrogance to think otherwise. But if we heed the warnings and do what we can to protect ourselves and each other, there can still be hope for the future.

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  8. I completely understand. Space is so vast and full of weird and wonderful things, it’s only natural to be compelled by it. It draws out a lot of creativity and motivation for me, and it definitely does the same for you!

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  9. I think my think is… how people connect, or sometimes don’t. I’m not sure what *specifically* I’m trying to get at about those connections but it’s like… important or something. 🤷‍♀️

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    1. That sounds like a good one. I sometimes feel like we take those connections for granted, but to really connect with another human being in a deep and meaningful way… that’s a pretty rare thing.

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