I'm not going to lie team-- Iʻm struggling. I have chosen to write a memoir for my MA thesis and I am a six months away from graduation, and I do not even have a basic draft of my memoir. I keep writing, deleting, writing, having a panic attack about it not being good enough, deleting. Itʻs made me postpone graduation once, and I am scared it will happen a second time. I need to do things differently, which is why Iʻve joined this group. I enjoy the community so much. I figured if anyone could share this kind of anxiety, it might be folks here. Any advice or kinship would be so appreciated (a virtual hug sent out to all).

Consistency over perfection! Even short writing sessions add up. Write daily and let the words flow!

I voluntarily committed myself to for nearly two weeks in the summer of 1998 in a locked nonviolent county facility because of a frightening manic psychosis. Originally based on 11-13 vignettes of my experiences with staff and fellow patients It expanded into a larger work. Some of the themes are the help and damage a psychiatrist can do, I am a natural caregiver, contrasts and comparisons with a select group of mental illness memoirs, functionality and dysfunctionality of various health care systems, etc. It begins with my fear of the dark as a child. Attached is a 332 word word docx with one or two line summaries of each chapter.

I find that I write better when given assignments by a writing course and produce fewer poems the rest of the time. I meet with a critique group about once a month and it helps a but I'd like to write more consistently. How do you keep yourself accountable & productive over time?

Without turning this into a complete therapy session I recently had a couple of pretty intense encounters with a family member of a former friend. It almost got physical. The interaction got me thinking about all the other instances that I got into a fight or almost got into a fight and I started this piece. The working title is "I still love you tho." On the 2nd verse I start to contextualize and speak about the reason why such instances occur but I feel like that is typical of my writing. I want to write about another instance but I feel like I got my point across pretty clear in this initial piece. I"m happy for any feed back. Please keep in mind that this a verse in a rap song so, I'm interested in suggestions on how I can add some nuance to the content. Thank you in advance! The work is below. Heart thumpin quicker with each step// a weak breathe// creeps pass the eclipse my lip pressed// hood 6th sense // I watched em from a block away// 8 or so heads that handle rocks like doctor Jay// bodies on the block minds still locked away// or perhaps it’s just not my day// I see them staring, i'm thinking is there anything that I’m carrying I could use as a weapon// In case these niggas start pressing// luckily I know some one who lives in this section// he just stepped from his porch to give me a dap and a blessing// I stopped for a second// to check in// To make my potential assailants, think I’m not stressing// maybe it was wise, maybe it wasn’t // I walked past, I heard subtle threats but they didn’t do nothin// I put on my headphones and asked why is it always the brothers?