To practice honesty in your writing, choose one of the following moments and write a few paragraphs in your journal about it. As you write, pay attention to your inner register about what you’re writing, noting the particular things that make you uneasy. Try to be a little “more honest than you’re comfortable with.” Remember that being brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared; it means you do it anyway. • A time when you were deeply embarrassed. • When you regret something you did. • The saddest moment of your life. • A secret you are afraid to talk about.

Honesty in writing

To be honest, I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Not that I am unwilling to be honest but is just that I don’t really know the answers to the statements above.

I have a very strange coping mechanism for things like this, and that is to use humour to get me through it. So, any time was deeply embarrassed I would have probably just laughed at myself and then make a joke out of it. This is what I did during the period of my life when I probably would have been the victim of bullies. However, I quickly learned that if you made a joke out of it yourself, then they stopped picking on you because you would laugh with them. I was still walking around, but I was extremely wobbly. That was a group in school who would have used this against me. Mind you, when they made a comment about it I responded with, ‘I had too much vodka on my cornflakes this morning.’ This became an inside joke with this group, although not everybody took it as lightly as I did. I went to a shop one day and when the group called over the road to enquire about how much vodka I had that day, a teacher overheard it and told my parents I was being bullied. It was my joke!

So, yeah, that was probably my most embarrassing time! Convincing my parents, I wasn’t being bullied by anybody.

This mechanism is always used to get me through any terrible times. Either that, or trying to write something bad happening to somebody else! (Especially if it is someone I don’t really like!) The saddest moments I can recall have been losing fur babies because there is very little you can do to make that funny. With people, it is easier because you usually have some funny memories of them you can hang onto. There are some enjoyable moments with cats that make you smile, but I believe you take longer to cope with the loss.

Secrets of something I don’t have. There seems very little point in bottling everything up so I just seem to let it go. Usually by laughing at myself or something like that. The only secrets I want to give myself of plot details of my book and I think that is the best way to go about anything. The same is true for regrets because life is too short to be thinking about something you did that you wouldn’t be able to take back, anyway. I live life looking for any experiences I want and even if they don’t work out, then I have tried!

Saying all of that though, in my work in progress my primary character has a disability, and she always feels like there is the only thing people see. Part of me will probably escape while I am writing this because sometimes it seems like people just see the wheelchair rather than me. I know this is not true for everybody, because I make friends and it has nothing to do with the disability. For example, my writer’s group, who I hope see me as a writer just like them. (Although they would definitely see the mistakes Dragon dictation makes for me!)

There I go again, making everything a joke!

Back to my principal character, Alice. I believe that any frustrations I have felt over the years will come out in the writing. You know, the being judged by everybody just because you are not what they consider being normal. It is not only being judged but the patronising way some people talk to you as if you were a child. If I could, I would like to kick some of those in their head! The story is about her finding out lies. This leads to she leaves the place she thinks of as home and interacts with these people that are normal. It is something she has never done, so she needs to learn about the world. It is through her that I plan to give my writing an element of truth.

Well, that is me being honest. If you ever want to know any information about me, then all you have to do is ask and I will try to give you a response.