This author series is brought to you by the San Diego Public Library and Words Alive.
Imagine that you're living your normal ordinary life and the person you rely on most for your care and security, maybe a parent or parental figure is arrested on false information and taken from you. People begin to believe what was said about that person is true. Imagine that people start to treat you differently. Friends won't hang out with you or go out of their way to avoid you because they feel like you are guilt, too, by association, which means that because you know and love this person that you're just as guilty as they are. Imagine you are getting looks from people you don't know but they know who you are and they know what your loved one has "done." Imagine that you know what is being said about this person is not true but there's nothing you can do to prove it.
Write a scene where you explore this situation. What would it be like? The scene is about you. You can start when this parental figure that you rely on has been taken from you. How do people start treating you differently? Does their behavior change all at once or bit by bit? Do your friends react differently than neighbors, teachers or other adults? How do you feel about what is happening? Name 3 emotions if you can, and if they change day to day. Who else in your life is affected by what happened? Does that person share the same feelings or do you feel like you are all alone in this? How do you hang on to what is true? How do you hang on to you?
Susan also presented a full Write Now workshop and she had plenty of advice for aspiring writers, especially when it comes to tackling the familiar enemy known as writers’ block. “It’s kind of like when you go into a pool, or the ocean, and the water is kind of cold, but stay in it, and your body finally acclimates,” she said. It’s all about persistence!
Find the full workshop below!