Censorship or Why Writing is Hard
always a prompt to meet you wherever you are
Writing is not literature. Literature is literature, honed, and polished after it was conceived, organized, drafted, redrafted, etc. Literature is a product to be enjoyed, ingested, digested, discussed. But writing, the act of being able to generate text, is how we invent new literature.
Writing can be messy, awful, boring, sometimes painful, and often bad, if I let myself do it the way I like to do it, the way that surprises me, the way that helps me discover (beyond my own cognition) what I might know. Writing, for me, is a practice and a way to be in a process with language to make meaning.
Carolyn Forché once told me that if I’m not writing “enough” then my standards are too high. I take this to heart and let myself write badly. Because it works. Because writing badly frees me to discover my impulse as it arises and to allow it. Writing badly as a practice lets me generate a lot of language and some of it is interesting enough for me to use.
When we censor ourselves, we limit our ability to be in touch with our impulses, to understand ourselves, to know who we are.
We are in a moment that feels censorious, so I’m doubling down on my freedom.
Writing as an act of freedom (or any creative practice) will get us through this while we build a new ladder out of the hole we’re in. Writing might even help to build and strengthen that ladder. It certainly helps me feel better every day I do it.
The best way to get better at using language to communicate or inspire or move people emotionally or create mimesis and moments of humanity is to try new things, to experiment and to push ourselves. But before we can do that, we need to trust ourselves.
Many of us struggle word by word, sentence by sentence. And maybe these first drafts come out nicer than mine. I don’t call mine first drafts because to me they are discovery drafts, and they are messy because I practice letting them be messy. If you enjoy this struggle, fine, have at it. If you want to change that, let’s talk!
One thing to try to improve our ability to spill uncensored language is The Most Dangerous Writing App. It forces us to write fast without editing by threatening us with the loss of all we’ve already written. (I do this once a day as a practice.)
Brave Space methods are much gentler, asking us to be more aware of how often we reject our own thoughts and edit ourselves unnecessarily, and by asking us to befriend our Inner Critic and Judges. I can help writers and artists become more aware of our different creative brain states and help you learn how to shift in and out of them with kindness.
Writing is not brain surgery. We are not going to lose our ability to anything if our pen slips. Writing is a tool for growth. What comes out can surprise us in wonderful ways!
BTW: If you wanted to take the Structure class, I’m sure I’ll teach it again, so just let me know, and I’ll add you to my waiting list.
The Prompt:
Make a long list (20+) of all the things you feel you shouldn’t or can’t write about. Examples could be living family members, first menstruation or any others, the loss of so many pairs of white pants, medical issues/sickness/how awful I feel, things I’m in denial about, things I’m ashamed of, past traumas, current or past political crises, etc. Some of these deserve their own lists! Get specific, like under shame, I could put a brawl I got into, or that time I—
Start with something easy from the list, something you think is not so impossible to write about, something with sensory experience in it, like the way it smelled or tasted or sounded or images from that moment in time.
Sometimes it’s easier to give these experiences to a character who isn’t you.
If/When you feel the censor arise, recognize them. Welcome them. Appreciate that they have come to protect you. If you can find some curiosity toward them, find out why they think they need to protect you from what you’re writing. Really ask and wait for them to answer. Appreciate their answer. Let them know if that makes sense. If you can find some compassion for them having to do the job they do, ask if they can see you, or if they think you’re still a child. Thank them for protecting that child. Update them if they think you’re still young. Let them see who you are now.
Ask if they’ll let you get to know that child they are protecting. See if they want your support. Sometimes a part of us gets stuck in a vulnerable moment. We can bring those parts to this moment instead, and keep them safe. We can let them know they don’t have to be alone anymore. You can find out more about how to do this for yourself via the books of Richard Schwartz and the IFS Institute or Freedom from your Inner Critic by Jay Earley and Bonnie Weiss. Or you can reach out to me for coaching.
You can document all of this in writing. You can let it be a dialogue as it unfolds. And thank your parts for sharing with you. And then see how much easier the writing can be, even writing you were uncomfortable doing!
artwork by Scott Sherman found at ScottShermanStudio on Instagram
Opportunities:
Ixion is seeking up to 8 scripts where DEFIANCE figures prominently to be considered for further development, including staged readings and possibly full production in June of 2026. No more than 4 actors. Simple setting. No more than 12 pages. Include only first initial and last name of author. Put script name and your last name in header or footer. Multiple subs allowed. No bios. Send to ixionensemble@gmail.com by 5 p.m. 9/30/25. Defiance can be in any form or any situation to explore relationships, dynamics and moments where opposition comes into play, could take on the relationship between a parent and child, and individual versus a collective or even a people versus an entity.
Are you writing poetry in solidarity against capitalism and prisons? Submit here.
April 1: The Democracy Cycle 2025 Open Call
Due April 1st, T. Schreiber Studios wants short plays on the theme “It Happened to Me.” There is a $5 submission fee, but if selected, they pay a small stipend and your work is produced in NYC in June. (I did this a few years ago with them, and they produced the plays at Theatre Row. This year I think it’s at ART/NY.)
Pittsburgh New Works seeks one-act plays for their 2025 season of world premieres. 15 to 20 plays will be selected as full productions or readings. Read their guidelines (they have changed somewhat) and if your play qualifies, submit it no later than Sunday, April 6!
Breath of Fire is offering free evenings online to write your play with the amazing Diana Burbano on Wednesdays 630 - 830pm PST. Diana is the Artistic Literary Leader of Breath of Fire, an award-winning playwright, Equity Actor and Teaching Artist for South Coast Rep. From 2/26 - 10/22/25.
Telephone seeks all kinds of creative folks from everywhere in the world to respond to other artists/poets/dancers/etc to create a global community of responses. It is a massively brilliant project (I contributed to), and they want all kinds of creatives involved. Check out what they are doing and reach out to them!
Women in the Arts & Media have a list of opps you can sign up to get monthly.
For poets looking for UK opps, sign up for Angela T. Carr’s Wordbox with monthly opps & more!
For 10-30 min plays for The ReOrient Festival (about the Middle East Or by Middle Eastern writers) til April 30th more info / submit
The Barn’s residencies take place in Lee, Massachusetts -- they offer one residency in the spring (roughly the first full week of June) and one in the fall (roughly the second full week of October). Residents are provided with room, board, working space, and a stipend of $600 for the duration of their stay. These residencies support emerging artists in the performing arts. Reach out to info@thebarnatlee.org with any questions or for more information.
Amazing People Doing Amazing Things:
If you want to be listed here, please let me know what you’re up to and include your links!
For example, 5 of my poems will be published, 1 per week, by Eckleburg.org. The first one dropped Monday 3/24. There will be a new one every Monday for the next month.
My short play, False Alarm, is part of a one-act in a festival at New Circle Theatre Company, directed by Bess Frankel in the theatre district (NYC) 3/26 - 4/6. My work’s in Program B but you can also check out Program A.
And if you’re in Kansas mid-month, my play, “The Slap of 1973,” will be part of The 42nd William Inge Theatre Festival!
Gina Femia is offering her Novel Writing 101 class! April 12th - May 24th, Saturdays from 4-630pm ET via Zoom.
Nikaury Rodriguez is in the cast of Bread of Life by Frank Pagliaro, directed by Leslie Kincaid Burby, produced by Up Theatre uptown running March 26 - April 12th. Tickets here. Sit with me 4/10!
Sheree V. Campbell is in Angel in the Ashes or Goodness Triumphant at LA MAMA 4/3 - 4/13 Tickets here!
Shoshanna Gleich is the Cat in the Hat in SEUSSICAL at Art/NY 5/8-18 Tickets Here!
SUR: The Trojan Women Project Sat. 3/29 to 4/6 in New York @ LA MAMA'S ELLEN STEWART THEATRE. https://www.lamama.org/sur/ or more info here
JOIN 100 Days of Creative Resistance! free email of encouragement, opposition, and commiseration — a reminder of why we write and create — from 100 iconoclastic contemporary voices on each of the first 100 days of the 47th president’s regime.
Audrey Cephaly has written a great Substack on How to Write the 10 Minute Play - I highly recommend her Substack every day, and especially this one.
Take a Poetry Workshop with Only Poems.
Playwrights! If you’re not already subscribed to Mark Ravenhill’s free newsletter for his 101 exercises for playwrights, you might want to click here to do that. If you’ve missed them, reach out and I’ll send you a pdf of the 1st 53, and a pdf of 54 - now. So you won’t have to search through the endless Twitter-verse for random entries.
Brave Space
With prompts, grounding practices, & discussions, Brave Space invites playwrights, poets, painters, potters, novelists, memoirists, musicians & artists working in any medium to make meaning in a safe community. Begin and/or bring your projects to completion. Or use Brave Space as a body-doubling space to get other things done in community. $5-25 suggested per session. 4+x/week! On or off camera. No commitment, drop-ins welcome. Try it!
The Brave Space Schedule:
Mondays & Wednesdays at 12pm ET; Fridays at 12pm ET w/fast feedback; and Sundays at 6pm ET with Sharing Second Sundays at 730pm ET. Email for a link!