I recently moved from a two-bedroom unit to a four-bedroom house. Ok, it is really five bedrooms, if you count the media room.
It felt slightly strange to move to such a large house. There are only two of us, you see. And the cat. We are a small family, no children, no plans to expand. One could argue we do not need such a spacious residence.
Although the cat might disagree.
When we moved in, I had a little brain debate. (Do you get those?) I told myself we would only use some of the space. We just came from two bedrooms, I argued with myself, and we do not need to fill all these extra rooms. We could be happy with just a little house.
I argued with myself, knowing I was wrong.
Because we are filling the space. Not with meaningless trinkets or stuff we will never use. We are spreading our much-valued equipment, music gear, books, movies, writing supplies and favourite toys throughout the house. We have expanded to fill the space we have.
We have expanded to fill the space we have.
Now the media room is dedicated to music and recording. I have a writing room, set apart for reading and writing. There is a dedicated guest room for friends and family. There is a spare room where – to be honest – all the unpacked boxes still live.
*Embarrassed laugh*
The old maxim, “You live within your means”, turns out to be true.
So it is with writing. I have found my writing style expanding lately. I don’t know if this is an effect of practice and experience, or if it is something that occurs naturally with age (making no claims to maturity here).
Whatever the case, I am finding myself more comfortable in my own writing skin.
I am discovering that my writing house has many rooms. In one room, I am a supportive friend, a confidante, an encouraging writer. In another room, I am fun-loving and playful. In yet another, I am a sarcastic parody-writer and social commentator.
My writing house has many rooms.
I am not apologising for having any of these rooms. They are important, valuable, needed parts of me, and all of them help me with my writing. I am developing more acceptance of this. I am becoming bolder and more confident in my own opinion.
The more I write authentically, the more rooms I discover.
I am not limited to one style of writing, one message, one genre. I am not even limited to writing with words. Sometimes I use music to convey my message. Music and songwriting is another room I have discovered. Music picks up the conversation where words leave off.
The more I write authentically, the more rooms I discover.
Keep on writing. Expand yourself as a writer. You never know what room you might stumble upon next.
What styles of writing or other creative means do you like to use? What might be some of the other rooms in your creative house? How has your creativity expanded over the years? Share your story. Let’s have a countercultural conversation.