Happy Wednesday! The Insecure Writers’ Group is a group of writers offering motivation and encouragement to all those taking on the challenges of writing. Every month the ISWG sponsors a blog hop where writers can blog about a topic related to overcoming obstacles and exploring various aspects of the writing journey. If you’d like to participate in a future hop you can join here. It’s always a great experience, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in writing and sharing with other writers. Every month there is an optional discussion question, and this month the question is the following:
Aug 2 Discussion Question: Have you ever written something that afterwards you felt conflicted about? If so, did you let it stay how it was, take it out, or rewrite it?
So, yes. In order to answer this question I have to take you back, on a journey to a place that is always in the back of my mind—like a song playing very low in the background of the soundtrack that makes up my life. At the time, I was just out of school, and was living overseas in what was considered a combat zone. The city was Mazar-E-Sharif, Afghanistan. As a young officer in the US Army I had a lot of responsibility, and there was always fear. We were surrounded by danger, but it was impossible not to appreciate the intense natural beauty of the landscape, to connect with the people, who were humans and were suffering and hoping for a better future. I can still see them in my mind, and I think about them often. Almost every day.
There wasn’t much for us to do on our free time. Obviously leaving our base unless on mission was too dangerous, and we didn’t have a lot of activities on base either. So this was when I started to really focus on my writing. I dove headfirst into the beginning of a book, and I guess you could say I fell hard. I wrote a lot in that book, a lot of conflicted emotions, deep fears about our own safety, the pain of losing people, the uncertainty and hope that I held out for the innocent people who lived in that war torn city. We all wanted everything to be ok for them, for them to live in peace and not to have to experience any more war. My writing became very intense, and as the book developed I really grew to love the process of watching it unfold.
Fast forward some years, and now I’m still holding the beginnings of that book. I put it aside, for now, because away from that time and place I’m not quite ready to revisit it. As a mom with young kids, it is too heavy for what I’m ready to express in a young adult book. Instead I’ve turned my attention towards more lighthearted subjects. That’s not to say that original writing doesn’t influence my current work. When I write about war, and when I write about characters who deal with war as a job, who fight as warriors, I handle them with a great deal of nuance and care. War is hideous. It can be necessary, and sometimes it is the only way to defend your homeland and loved ones. But it doesn’t erase the ugliness. Very few people who have been in combat or have been affected by it will revel in it. It’s not a video game, made up of faceless pixels. The majority of warriors and civilians caught in these conflicts have deep pain, and vicious emotional scars and trauma that may become more bearable but will never truly heal. If you are in this position, know that I am thinking of you. ♥️
It is important to remember and as writers to take into account the wide range of feelings and emotions and experiences our characters go through as they process the ugliness and barbarity of deadly human conflict. So as far as my book, I wouldn’t say it was a writing I revised, but it is something that I’ve put aside until later. Hopefully one day, I’ll feel ready to pick it up again.
Wishing you a lovely day writing and experiencing everything wonderful the world has to offer,
Thank you for reading, you’re the best!
-Winter ♥️
Winter Betancourt 
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