Our Stuff is the Raw Material of Writing

Writers and other artists are advised to “get out of their own way” to more freely express their inner experience.

It is also potentially a core benefit of counseling or psychotherapy. But what does it really mean: getting out of our own way?

Dennis Palumbo, a writer and therapist specializing in creative issues, addresses the question:

“If I, the writer, get out of my own way – that is, put my ‘stuff’ aside so I can write – what’s left to write about? My stuff is the raw material of my writing.

“In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and just say it: There is nothing but stuff. Which is great, because that means I’ll never run out of raw material. As long as I’m a human being, I have an inexhaustible supply.”

He goes on to note that this does not refute the idea that “the most important thing a writer has to do is get out of his or her own way.”

Continued in my Creative Mind post Our Stuff is the Raw Material