Tess Rosen Writes

Okay, readers... big news...  My poems did not win the poetry contest I entered!  But wait... there's more... The piece I wrote for the short story competition also did not win ! It didn't even place! And there were like.... 40-50 finalists! Truth be told, when I saw how massive the list of finalists was, I started giggling. Laughing with, not at, myself, if you will. Yes, I am aware that sounds nuts, but I was honestly tickled by my own hubris. I felt so  good about this story when I first submitted it. Not only was I proud of myself for putting it out there, I genuinely thought it stood a chance of at least making the top 50. Reader, I have been humbled . To make matters even more comical, a writer named "Tessa" was on the list, so I got excited for like .25 seconds before noticing the "a" at the end of her name. Yes, I was bummed, but this is why entering the occasional contest is an important part of my process. By the time I've reached the point o...

I often rely on the written word to pump the brakes in my anxious OCD mind (see previous post). With frequently overlapping thoughts racing around like motorcycles in a globe of death , writing forces me to pluck out one idea at a time and examine it intimately. To pull the motorcyclists aside and say, "Listen, this is clearly an insane career choice... is this really what you want to do with your life?" It's not difficult to understand why writing is commonly used as a therapeutic technique, and why we often feel a profound emotional release when we express ourselves on paper. No one can write as fast as they think, which is particularly true for anyone with an anxiety disorder. Writing forces me to stop the entire stunt show, bring the house lights up, and get real with the motorcyclists zooming around the rickety cage (usually accompanied by heavy metal and extravagant pyrotechnics). It has been a reliable outlet for me since I was a kid, and my mental health has undou...