Embrace the Value of Your Writing
By Robin Finn
Reclaiming Your Voice
My new book about women, writing, and worthiness, entitled “Heart. Soul. Pen.: Find Your Voice on the Page and in Your Life “ grew out of my own experience returning to writing after decades of believing I was ‘not good enough’ to write and reclaiming my voice as a woman and a writer.
When I was a kid, I was always writing. I wrote short stories and poems and essays and submitted them. But, at some point in college I experienced what I refer to in my new book as ‘art school trauma’ and no longer believed in my writing. I thought I could not make it as a writer, so I switched to a political science major, went to public health graduate school, and tried desperately to squash the urge to write.
It didn’t work.
Over the years, I tried everything to not hear the call to write. I had three children and struggled raising a child with severe ADHD. I knew there were words bottled up inside of me, but I could not let them out. I was afraid that if I somehow wrote about what I was going through as a mother, I would be ashamed or that I simply did not have the skills necessary to unleash all this raw emotion. I wanted to write, and I did not want to write at the same time (another issue I tackle in my book).
Eventually, this internal struggle led me back to school to earn a master’s degree in spiritual psychology. There, I learned that I was plagued by ‘limiting beliefs’ about the value of my words and my self-expression. Spiritual psychology gave me the tools to examine the beliefs I held about myself as a writer and the worthiness of what I had to say. I discovered that I held so much judgment against myself and that I believed I could not write or that I should not write or that my writing was not good enough or that no one would like me if I shared what was true for me. None of this was true. Through spiritual psychology, I learned to let go of the beliefs that held me back from writing and replace them with new beliefs that supported my desire to express myself. Eventually, I started writing again after decades of not writing.
Heart. Soul. Pen.
The first personal essays I wrote were about parenting a kid with severe ADHD and struggling as a mother. I was surprised and thrilled to find my work widely published and to receive scores of emails from readers sharing similar experiences. Then, I wrote my first novel, ‘Restless in L.A.’ and writing poured out of me.
Women began to approach me and share their writing dreams. So often they told me that they wanted to write but they did not believe their stories were worthy enough to write about. I related so much to this and my passion to help women write and share their work was born.
I created Heart. Soul. Pen. Women’s Writing Workshops to blend my background in public health, spiritual psychology, and wellness into a program that could guide women to unleash their radical self-expression onto the page and embrace the inherent worthiness of their words. After working for years with women across the country and beyond, I saw how transformational the process was when we let go of beliefs that no longer serve us and keep us small and embrace our value. As we move into supporting ourselves, writing becomes easier and more joyful, and it flows so much easier. In the book, I talk about the difference between writing through mud and writing with ease and support. Eventually, I crystallized the principles of my program into the book: Heart. Soul. Pen.: Find Your Voice on the Page and In Your Life.
Heart. Soul. Pen.: Find Your Voice on the Page and In Your Life. is a guidebook for any woman who yearns to reconnect to her voice, embrace her inherent worthiness, and get her words onto the page. If you are an experienced writer looking to reinvigorate your creative process, or a journal writer looking to go deeper into your work, or a searcher seeking connection to your voice, this book will help ignite (or re-ignite) your creative spark. The purpose of the book is to guide you to unleash your radical self-expression, your truest words, even if you do not consider yourself a writer—yet!
When you embrace the truth that your voice is unique and important and ‘good enough,’ writing became easy and fun and, often, essential to your wellbeing. Writing reveals, heals, and connects us to Who We Truly Are in a way that allows our hearts and souls to flourish. In Heart. Soul. Pen., I include ten easy-to-follow steps to experiencing a ‘divine download,’ where words and ideas flow out of the pen and onto the page. The first step, “Step #1—Revise and Release Limiting Beliefs” is where we stop and summon the willingness to examine what we believe about the value of our voices. We do this before we ever begin writing so that we set ourselves up for success rather than trying to write against the limiting beliefs in our head that tell us we are not good enough.
Ten Truths You Need to Know about Yourself as a Writer
Here are ten truths that every woman who writes or yearns to write needs to know:
- You are enough.
- What you have to say is enough.
- Whatever you have to give is enough.
- Whatever time you have is enough.
- Your voice is unique.
- Your story matters.
- You are the only one who can tell your story.
- Now is the perfect time.
- You have everything you need.
- Writers write. If you are writing, you are a writer.
Heart. Soul. Pen. is half memoir, half writing manifesto and all about the power of unleashing your radical self-expression. My message in the book and in everything I do is that your words are worthy, that you are the only person on the planet who can share your story, and that the time is now.
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Robin Finn, MPH, MA, is the author of the new book, Heart. Soul. Pen.: Find Your Voice on the Page and in Your Life, and the novel, Restless in L.A. She is the creator and founder of Heart. Soul. Pen.® women’s writing workshops and Hot Writing™ where midlife and menopause inspire the desire to say what you mean without apologizing. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The L.A. Times and more. Learn more at www.robinfinn.com.
Category: On Writing
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