Erick Galindo's Thoughts on Writing as a Form of Personal Therapy @ErickGEEE #Literary #Fiction

Why Writing is a Form of Personal Therapy

There are nights when I can’t sleep.

Netflix is on. Netflix is off. DayQuil. Sleeping pills. Big, unhealthy meals. Light, healthy ones. Gym.  Masturbation. Nothing works. And then I find it. The thought or series of thoughts that are holding me hostage. I unravel them, break them down and put them into the universe.

Lights out.

That’s the therapeutic power of writing (and reading) at it’s best for me.

The English writer Graham Greene put it well:  “Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.”

I’m not sure it’s always that serious but sometimes thoughts can be like poison in our heads or like a weight on the shoulders. At least that’s how I feel. And writing, for me, is the best way to get that poison out and to let go of that weight. Don’t get me wrong, if you are in serious need of psychological or emotional relief, seek professional help. But writing does have a way of helping to solve a problem or express a pent up emotion. It’s like exercise in that it helps you relieve the stress. And like breaking plates on the kitchen floor or telling someone to fuck off in that it helps you release.

And writing has long term effects for your personal growth because you can come back to it. I don’t how many times I’ve been feeling uncomfortably numb or down in the dumps and managed to gain perspective by reading some old piece of writing of mine. It always helps to see something from a distance. It also helps to read other people’s writing. Being human can be a lonely thing. It’s good to know that you are not alone. That’s why publishing your writing is also an important part of the process.

Not everything we write is worth being spat into the universe but it can be. It’s hard to tell where inspiration comes from and who you will be able to help or even entertain with your words. But if there’s a chance, you should. For every instance that you feel uniquely pained, there are untold numbers of people out there who can’t sleep and are all out of episodes of Chuck or Orange is the New Black to keep them company. And your little piece of self-examination might be the only thing that gets them a little peace.

A winner of the Hollywood Book Festival, So Go On and Live poignantly and bitingly captures the angst and restlessness of modern American youth. Pedro “Pete” Salcedo, a young but worn down journalist, is on a figurative and metaphorical journey through the absurdity of life, America and beautiful women. 

After accepting a prestigious job in Washington, D.C. and subsequently losing the love of his life, Pedro loses himself, first to his work, then to the road and eventually to the apathy, alcohol and cynicism that permeates through youth culture. Pedro struggles, like many of his generation, to get his life in order and hang on to love, sanity and pathos in this modern world, where women, relationships and sexuality are constantly evolving. 

So Go On and Live is a wild and emotional expedition into the existential and farcical perspective of a drunken, Mexican-Irish, would-be poet offering a new breed of optimism that comes with a nihilistic twist.

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Genre - Literary Fiction

Rating – PG-13

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Connect with Erick Galindo through Twitter

Website http://www.erickg.com/contact/