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  • Home
  • Explore with Me
    • BOOKS!!
    • LIVE Retreats & Circles >
      • ​Come As You Are, Meditation & Writing Retreat
      • A Year of Transformation, Initiation & Manifestation: World into Word & Action
    • Online Courses >
      • Be The Cause of Your Life
    • Spiritual Mentoring
    • Writing >
      • Writer's Sherpa
      • The Initiated Writer™
    • Counseling & Spiritual Mentoring
  • About & Testimonials
  • Blog
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Julie's Blog
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 World into Word & Action

Sometimes, Use Your Axe

4/20/2022

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Sometimes we must use our axe.  Every life has encounters with real villains. When we worry about being nice, not wanting to offend anyone, we often refuse the soul of our story. Too many writers put down their project because they are afraid to offend. (This silence by the way tends to perpetuate the harm). 

Be kind (to yourself and others) but stay in the fight.
Use your axe, write about evil doers or threats without holding back. 

Who are the villains in your life?  Write about that. 
What are you afraid to write?  Write about that. 
What do you think will happen if you write about "that"?   ​

When writing the first drafts, write it all down.  Leave nothing out. Avoid nothing. Protect no one.  Later, if you choose, you can remove these uncomfortable, unfortunate pieces. (A likely loss for the reader). 

When you feel yourself withholding because you don't want to reflect on, or write about someone's cruelty, consider the context of the villain's life. This is macro-writing. When we write about the villain and just focus on their behavior, we are micro-writing.  To bring a story to its fullness, we want both. We want the close-in and personal and the contextual, the macro level of story. So when writing about your abusive parent you may want to include some on their past. (The past is not an excuse mind you, simply a fuller story. And with a fuller story there is more empathy). 

Raise your voice on the page. 
Keep the narrative active, forward moving.
Use your axe.

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    Author and counselor Julie Tallard Johnson
    I live in Mount Horeb WI where I walk (snow shoe in the winter) my dogs through Stewart Park or Military Trail, garden my corner lot, wear a mask in public (and a cape at night). I love to write & connect to writers and spiritual seekers. My book The Clue of the Red Thread is my latest of eleven, written in collaboration with Parker J Palmer and poet Rebecca Cecchini  The Clue of the Red Thread: Discovering Fearlessness & Compassion in uncertain times  came out in January, 2021 through Shanti Arts, Nine Rivers Imprint. 

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