‘Paula’ is Isobel Allende’s novel about her daughter, a memoir written while her offspring was in a coma. Upon learning of Paula’s illness, Allende’s literary agent gave Isobel a wad of paper suggesting that she release her anguish so that she would not die from it.
Allende writes to his 28-year-old daughter (who never recovered) ‘Writing is a long process of introspection; it is a journey into the darkest caverns of consciousness, a long and slow meditation. I grope in silence, and along the way I discover particles of truth, small crystals that fit in the palm of a hand and justify my passage through this world… I immerse myself in these pages in an irrational attempt to overcome my terror. I think that maybe if I shape this devastation I can help you and myself, and that the meticulous exercise of writing can be our salvation.
As she grapples with her daughter’s mortality, she considers birth rites and how the process can be compared to creating a book: “Children, like books, are journeys inward, during which the body, mind and soul change course”. and turn to the very center of existence.’
A new book or play (a new story) is like a birth, a new beginning. It can be the writer’s search for answers, and that search can enrich both the writer and the reader. Reading, like writing, is therapy. For Allende, the very process of recording his thoughts through the written word helps the mind, body, and spirit. ‘My writing is magical, the hour of sorcery,… My only salvation when everything around me threatens to collapse’.
Millions keep diaries and write their anxieties, their pains, their anxieties. Popular fictional characters like Adrian Mole and Bridget Jones have comic versions of the perpetual anguish that befalls the single teenager or woman searching for the perfect man. I kept a journal from the age of 16 to 23. Not long ago I pulled the 18 year old from the bottom of an old, worn box in my garage. I was surprised at the amount of pain registered there. I’m sure writing helped me process it.
Writing is good therapy, it allows you to express yourself. It can help heal. Sometimes it is the only therapy available. It can be a miracle tool. use it
