Words

The advantage of writing this blog once a week is that I only occasionally succumb to writing an angry rant. Quite often I’ll write up a draft for that week’s blog several days ahead of time, realize it’s just an angry tirade, and throw it away. Several times I have gone through several such angry tirades before finally coming up with a more measured and, hopefully, well thought out blog. The other extreme occurs also. I have nothing to say all week, and then sit down on Friday afternoon and stare at my computer still blank.

Writer’s block, as we call it, is a frequent problem for me. It always has been. Waiting for inspiration doesn’t work. I don’t think it’s realistic outside Hollywood and other Romantic depictions. From what I read and hear about professional writers and artists is that producing something worthwhile requires sitting down every day and grinding it out with discipline. Such discipline is hard to come by.

Since I am in the process of writing a book (nothing to be excited about, it’s an academic monograph not the great American novel) I am having to really work on consistency and discipline. At present I write in bursts. I’ll spend a lot of time thinking about what I’m trying to say. I do my thinking while running, while driving, or while just sitting outside. Then I can sit down and spend several hours in a burst of writing (while sipping on a drink, snacking, and trying to keep cats off the keyboard). Then repeat.

Thinking about the work first means I have something in my head before I sit down to write.

But then there still is the act of writing. Word after word, paragraph after paragraph, page after page. I must weave a tapestry of words which sound well and which create an image. Crafting my sentences takes time. It takes rewriting, rereading, and rewriting again. For me writing from scratch on the computer is the worst approach. I take too much time correcting and fine tuning whilst writing, instead of just writing. If I put pen to paper I am more productive. I write as fast as I can, then come the crossing outs, and the sentences squeezed between lines, and the added half paragraphs in the margins. I “cut and paste’ by circling sections and drawing arrows, and making coded notes. It’s messy, but I am much more focused in this phase on building the frame and walls of the structure than on the detail work and finish.

From time to time I decipher and type the mess on the computer. Then comes the constant editing and rewriting to make the finished product.

(Yes. I think I mixed my metaphors in the last long paragraph).

Writing is hard, hard work. It takes research of the subject, followed by hours of thinking, then the hours of steadily building, detailing, and polishing. However, once finished the result is a piece of craftsmanship, or with some people a work of art, of which one can be supremely proud. This work might change minds, or inform, or provoke feelings and emotions, or all of the above.

What a wonder words are. My words, if carefully chosen and used, just might have an impact on other human beings. Thus, writing is a great responsibility. Which leads me to realize the spoken word is as important. My spoken words can impact others. How often have I used an ill chosen comment and hurt someone or deflated them? How often have I said something which has lifted someone up?

Best to speak like I write. Discard that initial outburst or tirade, think about it for a while, then speak with care.