Turn Your Wounds Into Wisdom

Do we write what we know or what we think we know?  For me I have had another day of pondering what writing means to me and what void gets filled when I do it.  There is an Oprah Winfrey quote that has stayed with me since I heard it, "Turn your wounds into wisdom."  Isn't that what good writing is? 

Our cat Monte is seven and when he came to live with us he was still a kitten and a scaredy one at that.  No, I am not kidding.  Our Veterinarian conned, er convinced me to take him home and since I am a sucker for kitties it wasn't hard.

She told me that when he was found he had been stuck outside all night in a thunderstorm. So to say that he is afraid of storms is a huge understatement.  When we do have a storm it doesn't matter where I am he comes and finds me.  He wants to snuggle and burrow and does not come out until the lightening and thunder subsides.

For me this was his way of turning his wound into wisdom.  Pretty simplistic I know, but he completely understands that being outside is not something he ever wants to experience again.  He is quite happy living just within the walls of our home.

Turn your wounds into widsom.  I think that is what I try to do when I create.  I don't try to impose my wounds on to the characters that are born to my imagination, instead I use the emotions from those situations to better understand these characters and the journey they are on.  Facing the good and bad times, the joy and the pain, has enabled me with the empathy needed to write better characters and situations that I hope translate well.  

Turn your wounds into wisdom.  Take those real life experiences and use them for your writing.  Make those moments count.