For those of you who are writers, I wanted to share this latest call for submissions from Monstering magazine. If you remember, I mentioned this new start-up by Brianna Albers a few days ago.
To get myself in the frame of mind for thinking about a submission for a curated collection, I went back to some of my favorite books on writing. I’ve collected many e-books from authors, coaches, and activists over the years, so there is much wisdom to be found that is even more relevant today than it was then.
I found one thought that reached out and grabbed me in a old PDF e-book called Writing to Impact Change from Heather Plett. She quoted a passage by Michele Visser-Wikkerink that blew me away.
The climax of this passage is this:
Believe what you are writing about. Bullshit doesn’t make for behavioural change.
If you can’t tell by the presence of the “u” in “behavioural,” Michele is Canadian, and in my experience, though Canadians have a reputation for apologizing too often, they also have a tendency to cut right through the bullshit. I don’t typically use much profanity in my writing, but that word just made my day to read.
So when I submit (was there any doubt that I would?), that will be the advice that leads me through the thoughts and emotions and chaos that have consistently dogged my steps since November 9 at about 2:30am when Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump to concede the 2016 Presidential election. I will write what I believe without the bullshit. I want to see change with people who think like I do.
We need to use our voices. If we don’t, they’ll treat us like we don’t exist. Maybe we don’t exist to them, but we will make sure they know we do before this is all over.
Finding Our Voices Together 