on not writing
a list
weak comedic thoughts (even ice doesn’t want to be associated with ICE!)
irritation (a snow day provided the time and private wifi from home to take advantage of presale BTS concert tickets)
cringe (rereading old writing feels like staring in a mirror—blech)
betrayal (raw unbalanced memoir about being a daughter, sibling or auntie)
recycled thoughts (crunching through blustery snow during a winter weather advisory)
too much to say (am I doing enough to address cruelty?)
too little to say (making a list rather than composing a paragraph)
Q&A
Where is the courage to write? Even as the response forms I am recoiling.
As an Enneagram 4 (someone who clings to originality), the person that is revealed through writing feels like a “try hard,” impossibly awkward, embarrassingly self-absorbed doppelgänger.
Where is the authentic material that answers the call “to write what you want to read?”
As a Korean adopted person, I wonder if I lean too heavily into that identity to mine the well for niche perspectives that are rejected from within and without the community for different reasons.
Outside the community: Is being Asian and adopted your whole personality?
Inside the community: Not exactly . . . Sounds like denial? or conversely, Too angry?
Where does writing lead?
Daily writing is a discipline—everybody knows that. Humbling. Like confession. Confronting what I’ve taken in as a listener, viewer and consumer. Who wants to read about the difficult decisions I’ve made (forced to leave a job over a refusal to sign a statement of beliefs), the fandoms I embody (K-Pop and K-Dramas), the growing number of powders and adhesives I accumulate in response to various health claims (microbiome support and mouth tape with collagen)?
The competition?
Podcasts
YouTube subscriptions
For You pages on a daily and eternal feed
Constant “mowing” of emails (when you select and delete all unwanted junk)
Those 10,000 steps
AI editing images
Calling a friend
In this context, writing may offer an opportunity for engagement with others, ironically launched in solitude.
3 words on writing
Contemplative. Challenging. Courageous.
