Showing up to the mat

Since January 1st, I’ve been reading and journaling alongside The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad. Described as a “guide to the art of journaling,” Jaouad’s book offers itself as your companion if you wish to complete a 100-day journaling project — there are ten sets of ten short essays by various writers, followed by a prompt related to that essay. It’s been mostly enjoyable, and I’ve thought about using it for my March slice of life challenge, though not every prompt inspires me to write each day.

Like today’s, for example: to write about an important first, and then “consider all the greater meaning embedded in that moment.”

That feels a bit too heavy for this morning when I only have ten minutes to slice before I settle down to work.

Something in today’s essay, though, did stand out to me. The essay was “Ghost Bread,” by Angelique Stevens. In it, she writes:

I tell my students that everything in their writing should bring with it some greater meaning: every word some greater depth, every character some greater representation, every object some greater symbolism. As writers, it’s our job to make sure our words do some heavy lifting. (55)

I guess on the one hand, I agree with her. This is part of the revision process: cutting and paring back on the fluff, leaving only the words and sentences that actually bring something to the piece you’re working on.

But on the other hand, I’m not so sure. If the goal, such as for a daily journaling challenge or for the slice of life challenge, is to just get something on the page, then this pressure of every word capturing some greater depth could very well scare someone off of writing any word at all!

What about “even just one sentence,” as Ana shares in Tiny January?

I know that Stevens’ students are likely university-age or older and have chosen a career as writers, but even then — shouldn’t there be some slack given to them? Shouldn’t they be encouraged to “just write,” even if it’s a sentence? And then, later, maybe go back and think about the meaning? And that it’s okay, too, if there isn’t a greater meaning? If it’s just a sentence, just you showing up to the mat?