I thought I knew ‘good’ writing
I admit: I’ve historically been kind of a snob when it comes to writing. It’s the one thing I’m naturally ‘good’ at. I was one of those kids in school who somehow got all the English grammar rules—they just made sense in my little system. I suppose it’s how math people can understand how numbers hang together and form sense and beauty. Or how musicians get things like pitch and rhythm; how photographers have a sense of composition and light. That’s how I was—am—with the English language.
That was one of the things that I felt ‘qualified’ me to start Soul Writing—something I desired so deeply but had no real experience with back in 2020. I figured that, if nothing else, I knew I could tell people what was good about their writing, like, objectively. If nothing else I could start there.
But something else very quickly started to happen—in the very first group, in fact. It wasn’t this person’s artful use of alliteration, or that person’s tidy economy of words that blew me away. Sure, aspects like that may have been present, but what far surpassed all of that were the writers’ voices—written and spoken. It was their sincerity. The heart, courage, rawness, honesty with which they wrote and read. It was their trust in themselves and the group, who sat in awe of the piece’s aliveness—not the skill with which it is crafted.
Quickly I came to see that that was good writing. I knew because it inspired others in the group to say how they were moved, which in turn moved the writer to go deeper. Five years later, thousands upon thousands of words have been written this way, and hundreds of souls have been expressed, witnessed, and moved.
I still start most sessions by reading a poem or passage from an writer from outside the group—usually one who is well known or widely published—to season the space. I purposely refer to them now as ‘outside’ writers (versus famous ones) because it has proven to be the case that anything written in a Soul Writing session is just as good, just as publishable, just as inspiring as anything from the Poetry Foundation website or the dozens of books I keep in arms reach for this purpose.
I mean, here’s your proof—the community blog features unedited pieces written in fewer than 10 minutes. It’s beauty sourced at the wellspring of the soul. No refining, no polishing, no treatment whatsoever. Just aliveness. Just the soul come alive on the page.
So while our aim in Soul Writing isn’t to get objectively ‘better,’ the more folks show up the more astounding their writing gets. The more honest, alive, nuanced, complex, and yes… stunning.
Come play with us any time and see for yourself.
