by Libby Sommer:
Sometimes when people read my stories they assume those stories are me. They are not me, even if I write in the first person. They were my thoughts and feelings at the time I wrote them. But every minute we are all changing. There is a great freedom in this. At any time we can let go of our old selves and start again. This is the writing process. Instead of blocking us, it gives us permission to move on. Just like in a progressive ballroom dance: you give your undivided attention to your partner—keep eye contact for the time you are dancing together—but then you move on to the next person in the circle.
The ability to express yourself on the page—to write how you feel about an old lover, a favourite pair of dance shoes, or the memory of a dance on a chilly winter’s night in the Southern Highlands—that moment you can support how you feel inside with what you say on the page. You experience a great freedom because you are not suppressing those feelings. You have accepted them, aligned yourself with them.
I have a poem titled ‘This is what it feels like’. It’s a short poem. I always think of it with gratitude because I was able to write in a powerful way how it was to be desperate and frightened. The act of self expression made me feel less of a victim. But when people read it they often say nothing. I remind myself, I am not the poem, I am not the stories I write. People react from where they are in their own lives. That’s the way things are. The strength is in the act of writing, of putting pen to paper. Write your stories and poems, show them to the world, then move on. The stories are not you. They are moments in time that pass through you.
What is your experience?
Libby Sommer, Author 
It’s exactly so! Exactly. But of course you present something of yourself. And that’s just what frightens sometimes some people. It’s easy to share happiness. It’s not so easy to share fear. Because people just fear fear. That’s quite natural. But Poetry still has the very power to dive deep into humans soul so they can also change and move on. That’s magical and still very real. Greetings from Vienna!
LikeLiked by 1 person
greetings from Sydney, Australia. so good to hear from you. yes, i agree, poetry, more than any other form of words on the page, has the power to dive deep into the human soul. well said. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you ! :o)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Write of Passage and commented:
Wonderful wisdom from author Libby Sommer. You are not who you write!
Thank you, Libby!
LikeLiked by 1 person
and thank you once again Ellie for spreading the word. you’re the best 🙂
LikeLike
Very few people read what I write so the question of my being confused with the narrator or a protagonist in one of my stories rarely comes up. But on the other hand, one of the things I love about writing is the opportunity it gives me to be someone else; or at least to write as if I was a different person. That can be so much fun; and so liberating too.
BTW: congrats on the publication of your book. I hope it goes really well for you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
yes, i agree, writing as someone else can be very liberating, and fun too. thank you so much for your good wishes on my new book. much appreciated.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A brilliant post, Libby! I find release and a deeper understanding of myself and the world around me through my writing – and often this is in the first person but it isn’t me!! Quite often I have found people assume it is my story and I have to correct them!
LikeLiked by 1 person
oh, Annika. it’s so wonderful you comment on my posts sometimes. you are a wonderful support. yes, it seems to be very common that readers assume if it’s a first person story, it must be the writer’s own experience. it’s good sometimes to write as a character of the opposite sex, or as someone in a totally different age group. then we can say what we like and not worry about what people will think of us 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Omg I get this all the time with people. They make assumptions (wrongly) about my writing and what that means I’ve done. I’ve learned to laugh it off. Great post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
thanks so much Lilliana. good to know other writers receive the same assumptions about their work 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Write and Create (from Creative Writing Course).
LikeLiked by 1 person
thanks for the reblog. much appreciated.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A pleasure
Happy writing
craig
PS
Best wishes from the First City to see the light
LikeLiked by 1 person
happy writing to you too Craig. best wishes from sunny Sydney. Libby
LikeLike