The slender boundary between life and death

Breathing as a writing tool.

Breathing is a secret weapon, a tool in the writer’s arsenal. Breathing and writing go hand in hand like bread and butter, because both inhalation and inspiration are vital when we write our stories.

HOW FAR WILL ONE BREATH TAKE YOU?

One of my favourite writers is the Australian author, Tim Winton. In his award-winning book Breath, he writes about extreme risk-taking, the wildness of youth and how to find the balance being extraordinary as well as ordinary. Winton explores these concepts of breathing and gasping for breath:

“It’s funny, but you never really think much about breathing. Until it’s all you ever think about.”

WHAT HAPPENS IN ONE BREATH AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR WRITERS?

When you inhale (breathe in), air enters your lungs, and oxygen from that air moves to your blood. At the same time, carbon dioxide, a waste gas, moves from your blood to the lungs and is exhaled (breathed out). This process, called gas exchange, is essential to life.

When we write, as when we breathe, it happens one word, one breath at a time.

Because breathing rejoins our body and mind and urges them to work together for a common purpose, it is a helpful practice for writers who find their own bodies sources of distraction when attempting to focus.

In a powerful University of Tennessee study, author Christy I. Wenger cites Jane Tompkins who calls for us to give up the pretense of the disembodied and impersonal voice in our writing and accept the real body, “the human frailty of the speaker…his emotions, his history” that supports the writing persona as well as the “moment of intercourse with the reader— acknowledgement of the other person’s presence, feelings, needs.”

BREATH: WRITERS` SECRET WEAPON

In her article Learning to write through an awareness of breath, Joanne Yoo elegantly explains how we as writers can harness writing power from the simple act of breathing.

“Both breathing and writing can be regarded as life-giving and engaging acts. Breathing flows as ceaseless and continuous acts of inhaling and exhaling, stirring up life in the way a writer’s personal voice animates words. Breath, like air, is light and spacious, evasive, and carries multitudinous possibilities. By dwelling deeply within words, through breath, we can subsequently disrupt the familiar and engage in poetic and “breath-like” forms of writing, which brings us closer to its weightless and enduring dimension.”

THE SLENDER BOUNDARY BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH

In previous blogs we have covered the power of walking and revisiting known and unknown places. By now becoming aware of your breath and actively pursuing the link between breaths and words, your thoughts and memories can become more structured and defined. Breathing is your writing tool.

Breath is what brought you to this earth and accompanied you through every stage of your life. Draw a deep breath and close your eyes. Let the rhythm of your breath transport you, transcending through time, to revisit the spaces in your mind you need to unlock to give it words and meaning.

Of course, there are more ways to access your memories, but using the sensory act and rhythm of your breath is such a good starting place! 

REMEMBER TO BREATHE AND NEVER GIVE UP

A last word of encouragement comes from a quote by Tim Winton in Breath:

“Some endeavours require a kind of egotism, a near autistic narrowness. Everything conspires against you – the habits of physics, the impulse to flee – & you’re weighed down by every dollop of commonsense dished up. Everyone will tell you your goal is impossible, pointless, stupid, wasteful so you hang tough. You back yourself & only yourself. This idiot resolve is all you have.”

Remember that, as an author coach, I am always here to assist you.