There is joy in writing - real joy! - in its immanence and its ‘nowness’ and its ability to collect and articulate thought. We often see writing as the means to an end, a way of conveying a message, but for Helen, writing has its own identity and its own reason for existing. As Foucault argues, what we do is who we are. We may even write a friendship into existence. Through writing, Helen encourages us to blast the academic discourse open so we can fully work with ideas and respond to the world in which we find ourselves.
How do you do that? Be brave. Take the risk and write the work you feel should be out there. We have to seek out the spaces where we can find joy, collaborate, share, and talk about our writing. We also need to create space for other ways of expressing knowledge. Writing is very much like LD in that sense; it’s a space for us to meet, share and learn. If that process is painful, then interrogate that pain, which is probably linked somehow to the expectations we have of ourselves and of our writing.
Try writing for the sake of it - you too might find that joy!
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