Healing through Writing

Writing to heal. In the wake of the tragedies in New York City, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania this week, we as writers have a very important outliet to get out our feelings and emotions during this time. We can sit down to write. Whether it is a journal like message to get out all those things inside of you, or it is other types of writing including fiction or poetry. Writing can help to begin to heal those wounds.

I along with the rest of the nation sat transfixed this week and on Tuesday morning watching the news coverage of the attacks. On the first day, I found impossible to sit down at my computer and write. I knew that once I did, it would help me feel better, but my mind kept traveling back to those that lost their lives. As time went on, and it became Wednesday, I was finally able to sit down and write. It was difficult, but I did it, and once I was done with what I was writing, I did feel somewhat better.

Writing can be a wonderful healing mechanism. Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to express themselves through words and paper. As writers, we should take advantage our words during this time to help heal ourselves and others. It might be your words that help bring a smile to someone's heart, and that smile may be the first that the person has had in days. We need as individuals and a nation as a whole to begin the process of recovery. Our nation will never be the same, but we must move on, or those that attacked us continue to do so.

My thoughts and prayers go out to each and everyone of my readers that suffered loss in this week's tragedy. Life is precious, and the lost of so many lives touches us all.

This week's market and contest of the week are:

Market of the Week
Hadrosaur Tales
Address: Hadrosaur Productions PO Box 8468 Las Cruces, NM 88006
What do they publish: Short stories and poetry around science fiction and fantasy including that with a historical tone.
Payment: $6 / story. Poetry up to 50 lines $2 / poem

Contest of the Week
Hayden Carruth Award
Website: Contest Guidelines
Mail entry to: Copper Canyon Press PO Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368
Entry fee: $20
Prizes: $1000 and publication
Deadline: Entry postmarked between November 1st and November 31st, 2001.

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