The bubbling writing nerve
I listened to an interview with the Swedish artist Klara Andersson. When asked how she writes, she said she “just writes” — on her phone, on paper... Then she added:
I try to limit it as little as possible. You feel the writing nerve bubbling — and then you write, and then you get to see what it turns out to be.
So true. I recognize myself completely in that.
It’s only recently that I’ve realized how important writing really is to me. It doesn’t matter if it’s a diary entry, a blog post, or just a few words scribbled on a piece of paper that ends up in the trash.
How and why we write varies from person to person, but I think most of us can relate to that feeling of emptiness when we stop. Like something’s missing. Like a sentence suddenly cut short.
I stopped writing for a few years during a difficult time in my life. Incredibly stupid. It would have been such a helpful, insightful “pen pal” to have by my side.
Now I don’t dare take that risk again, so instead I write every day. Incredibly liberating. Mostly in Swedish, sometimes in English. It doesn’t matter if it’s long or short, deep or shallow, fact or fiction — just something, even if it’s only a single sentence.
And I’ll keep doing that. You can write that down. ✍️