A Conduit for Voice

On Tuesday, I received the following telegram from Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, updating me on the draft of his second novel, a sequel to Ruthless, which we published in time for Calkins Day 2021.

Dear Goddess:

Wow, I finished the book. 

I'm still revising, but even a lot of that is done as my wife has been drawing the internal illustrations. 

I know you don't have everything, so I'll be sending that to you. hopefully you'll have a clean copy by the end of September.

Ruthlessly yours, 

Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara

"Finding your voice" is a theme that's cropped up a lot this year. In fact, I was asked to talk about finding your voice in July at the Three Rivers Library District in Minooka.

A few weeks ago, while listening to Ed talk about his ideas to a writing prompt a WriteOn Joliet member suggested at a meeting, did I realize how valuable WriteOn Joliet really was in that process.

You see Ed is very dyslexic and never thought he could write one novel people would read (much less two) as well as a collection of silly essays that first appeared in installments in the early days of this blog.

Certainly I'm glad the BryonySeries gave Ed that opportunity.

But Ed really developed as a writer by joining WriteOn Joliet. That's where Ed was able to interact with other writers, read his drafts to a group, and provide feedback for the writings of others.

People may want to write but aren't sure where to begin.

They may have plenty of ideas but can't decide which ones to express.

They may struggle finding the right words for certain emotions or memories.

When they finally do get the words on paper, they may wrestle with doubt: Is it good enough? Does anyone care?

And often, writers simply have no audience for any of it.

I think that's where WriteOn Joliet really blesses writers. 

Our members guide other members through the process is a very non-judgmental way.

We give our full attention to the words when they are written.

And we help find others who want to hear those words, too.

It's really awe-inspiring to think that, in a world that often seems too clanging and noisy, a small, still voice can land upon the right ears that delight in hearing the words that voice wants to say.

This morning, six members of WriteOn Joliet (and one emcee substitute) will share original works in a radio-style performance at 10 a.m. at the Ottawa Street branch of the Joliet Public Library.

We did a similar performance in April at the Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park Theatre in Joliet. The Book Market in Crest Hill, which is very friendly to local authors, opened its space to us for months of rehearsals. 

We are grateful for these opportunities to entertain and inspire an audience, no matter how small, that wants to hear words that spilled from our minds onto paper, words that will now be projected from across a large room.

Having something to say is important.

But the real miracle workers are the people who pause to listen.

That's where the real magic is worked, along the conduit of syllables that travel from the mind of one person to another, all through the careful arranging of twenty-six letters into a cohesive message.

Amazing.