Back in my sophomore year of college, I took a class in creative non-fiction writing. As we went through exercises, writing about our personal lives and our beliefs, I wanted my words to be 100% beautiful and true. I wrote a short piece about my experience moving from the mountains of Tennessee to the deserts of Botswana, Africa and back again. A problem arose: life isn’t always 100% beautiful, especially mine. Fact is, I was still dealing with most of the issues and pain I’d accumulated in Botswana. No matter what I did, in the end I was always faced with two choices: be honest and write a true, bitter ending to the story, or write a happy ending and leave my integrity at the door. I chose to be honest.
From a critical perspective, the work was interesting but sup-par and overly metaphorical. I’m endlessly proud of my classmates for bearing with me, and still not sure how my reputation avoided being solidified as that writer who does their creative writing on a drug high.
The class ended, but life went on, and so did my search for personal resolution… a different end to the story. Finally, last weekend in Tennessee with my family, I stood beside the Little Doe River and reflected on how much has changed inside me since I wrote “The Rain”. Change seems slow until you look back several years, doesn’t it? I finally felt that I could write an honest ending to the story that wasn’t sad, or bitter, or melancholy. Here’s the link: http://thedauntlessprincess.com/the-rain/ and I also posted it under my writings.
Time heals! Thank God.
~The Dauntless Princess~