I'm Wild!

Write like a wild person! This phrase leapt at me last night while I was reading Eric Maisel’s A Writer’s Space, and my imagination has been intoxicated with it ever since.

Write like a wild person! What does it mean? I have swirling, half-formed ideas about freedom and quirkiness and unscheduled days full of words. Tumbling, free-flowing thoughts spin around a central image of me, perfected, writing at a table in a café with piles of notebooks, constantly moving pen, and a large, colorful mug filled with coffee sitting near to hand as phrases tumble out of me nearly faster than I can get them down on paper.

So what does it really mean? I think my dream image is part of it. Writing like a wild person would mean writing whenever and wherever I wanted to or could, being ready whenever the mood strikes or an inspiration is born. It would mean writing my real thoughts, not censoring myself, not shielding the world or anyone in it from what is created in my mind. It would mean being unapologetic about what I write, when I write, the fact that I write, the writing life I live.

I am suddenly thinking of Natalie Goldberg’s Wild Mind. I think I need to read it again, put more focus on the “wild” part. I have always loved that title, and suddenly it seems so relevant to what I’m trying to do.

How do I bring this vision into my world? By writing. And writing and writing and writing. And letting go. And writing. And living in the moment and trying to put aside the constant thoughts of what to do next, what might happen next, what I will make for dinner. A wild person would live for now, not for later—I’m sure of that much at least.

This is not an easy balancing act, this need for freedom and uninhibited writing along with detailed plans for what I will write. But I can feel that this is the right balance to reach for, so that’s my aim. Plan what I will write, get down the details and then write like a wild person!