Writers and Therapy…
I’ve been doing a little research on writers and their emotional, psychological, and physical health lately. This afternoon whilst I was eating lunch, a program came on the radio (I usually listen to KCRW during the day) that was, I believe, particularly apt: Hollywood on the Couch. Claude Brodesser-Akner interviews Dennis Palumbo, a former screenwriter himself, who discusses some of the common emotional setbacks that creatives (such as writers, directors, and actors) face. As he points out, therapy is the same everywhere, except here. You might not have time to listen to the entire broadcast, but they do discuss writers first before going on to directors and actors.
One remark that made me laugh and spit up my water: Writers are ego-maniacs with extremely low self-esteem.
on May 13th, 2008 at 2:49 PM
Sure am glad you didn’t decide to drop the group and Congrats to the new VP!
I don’t spend much time reading blogs (or updating my own!) but am enjoying yours – have you considered writing essays or the the catchall “hybrid”? I’m playing with the latter myself – seems an outlet for me when the poem just won’t evolve.
on May 13th, 2008 at 4:24 PM
I know I just can’t seem to not write. People don’t always want me to pay me for my writing, and some may call it hack writing or just keep not accepting my poems or stories, but I can’t stop.
The blog is a good outlet. Found a quarterly publication that doesn’t pay me but lets me write for them. And my journal. Those are three places I can write where people can’t tell me to go away.
Hybrid – is that like the prose poem? Or very poetic essay writing? I’ve tried that and really enjoyed.