TWLOHA’s Jamie Tworkowski On Writing And Purpose

There are books you connect with where the author paints scenarios similar to ones you might have traversed in years past. There are others where you lose yourself in the impossible that you wish was possible, like Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Then there are other books that you can relate to purely on the emotional level. Where you’ve felt everything the author is describing, but maybe in different settings. That’s how I felt when I read Jamie Tworkowski’s If You Feel Too Much.

Jamie is the founder of To Write Love On Her Arms, a nonprofit organization dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression. He is releasing an expanded edition of If You Feel Too Much on Sept 6th, which you can preorder HERE. I wanted to interview Jamie on his thoughts on the writing process in regards to depression and what role writing plays in the journey, as well as the reason we share what we create.

You’ve been really open with your personal bout with depression. Was working on an expanded edition of If You Feel Too Much cathartic for you or did it bring the hurt to the surface?

“Good question. i honestly don’t know. i was really struggling when i wrote the new stuff. i don’t know that the writing could have brought the hurt to the surface any more than it already was. i think in choosing to write about that relationship, and the loss of it, there was the hope to capture it once and for all, to try to explain why it meant so much to me. There’s a MuteMath song called “Monument.” The chorus is “Let’s make a monument to our love.” Maybe this is something like that.”

What did you learn about yourself as you pull these short stories from your memories and put them to paper?

“If we’re talking about the new material that was written for the expanded edition, i would say i learned how much i believed in this relationship. i wrote the new material five months ago and it still resonates. The pain has lessened, but a lot of the feelings remain. Overall, the memory of the belief and excitement that i had for the relationship, the feeling that my life was changing. And all of that is of course what made the loss of it so painful.”

Ian Cron says in his book Chasing Francis that “Artists help people to see or hear beyond the immediate to the eternal. Most people only look at surfaces. A great poem, story, song or sculpture reveals the hidden meaning of things.” I personally feel that If You Feel Too Much did that for me. Have you had that experience of people sharing things with you that your book revealed that you didn’t expect? Anything you could share?

“i like that! i don’t have a specific story but almost every day i see people posting something (from the book) that meant something to them. i’ve definitely had the thought lately that every time someone does that, it’s as much about their story as it is about mine. As a reader, i definitely know that feeling of someone else putting words to something i’ve experienced or something i’ve felt. That connection or common ground is special and i don’t take it for granted.”

It pains me to know there are readers out there with this magnitude of a book, song or art form within themselves they are fearful to release to the world. What advice could you share with that reader?

“i think we’re made to be known. Whether we write or not and whether our art becomes our job or not. We’re made to tell our stories. i don’t think we have much control over what happens next, whether or not the song becomes a hit or the book becomes a bestseller. But i believe that as human beings, there’s value in creating, in telling stories, in expressing ourselves. Because we’re wired to do that, even if the audience is one friend or a small group. We’re made to be known.”

IF YOU FEEL TOO MUCH is available for pre-order now. You can find it HERE as well as book tour. Pre-Orders will support the nonprofit organization To Write Love On Her Arms.