write

Why Everyone Should Write

/ Ken May / Leave a comment

If you’re not writing, you don’t know what you’re missing.  Writing gives you a perspective you won’t get any other way.   Everyday thoughts and emotions swirl in your head and heart always barely eluding your grasp.  Then they fester and eventually surface at times and in ways you don’t want.  However, pouring your thoughts on paper (or screen as the case may be) tames them.

We store our memories and their attached emotions in the limbic area of the brain.  The limbic is not quite the subconscious because we are aware of it, but it is not as easily accessed as other parts of the brain.  The neo-cortex, or frontal lobe, is the power house for logic and ration.  When poor patterns of thinking trap us, it’s because we are dealing with our emotions and memories without getting logical perspective.  The physical act of writing (or typing) builds a bridge between the neo-cortex and the limbic system.  The result: you process your emotions logically instead of… well… emotionally.*

So even if you never publish a word, there is benefit in writing.  You will be more in touch with what you are feeling and why.  Being more connected with yourself makes you more settled and stable.  So, write!

(* The sources documenting how emotional memories of the limbic system function are many.  This is certainly not my original thought, but it is so well and widely documented that it can be considered common knowledge.)

Tips

/ Ken May / Leave a comment

“[On Writing Well] is full of what might be called tips. But that’s not the point of the book. It’s a book about craft principles that add up to what it means to be a writer…Tips can make someone a better writer but not necessarily a good writer.”

From On Writing Well by William Zinsser, p.48

In his book, On Writing Well, Zinsser responds to a teacher who asked him to give tips for writing to his English class.  He tells the teacher he doesn’t do tips.  The quote above explains why.  It comes down to developing the craft of writing.

The thought of developing within me the craft of writing stirs my soul.  A current ripples within me when I contemplate the endeavor of taking a blank sheet and flooding words across it and then channelling the churning waters so that structure and style begin to form and the passion in me flows out and sweeps my readers away.  That is a good writer.  That is an author who is on fire for his craft.  That is who I am striving to be.

Content Management

/ Ken May / Leave a comment

“Content management.  Isn’t that what we used to call ‘writing’?  I’ve been in the content-management business all my life.  I look for content that interests or amuses me, and then I manage it into a narrative.  It’s what all writers do if they want to keep paying the bills.  Dickens did it very well.  So does every good crime writer: Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler.” (From The Writer Who Stayed, William Zinsser, page 4)

I love simplicity.  I live by the cliché, “less is more.”  Let me illustrate.  I could tell you: “Create tension in the muscular fibers of your bicep to create a medial flexion while simultaneously initiating extension of the proximal digit of the extremity.  Time and gauge the distance to trip the circuit to cut the flow of alternating current so the incandescent filament stops emanating photons.”  Or, I could say “flip the switch to turn off the light.”  Too often, we make writing far more difficult than it needs be.  When Zinsser refers to writing as “content management” he gives me a simple plan.

Where do I see a plan in that statement?  Change it to an imperative.  Manage content.  Now I know what to do.  When I begin writing, no matter what the genre, I begin with a batch of content.  If it’s prose, I have facts and arguments.  If it’s fiction, I have characters and a story arc.  Either way I have a collection of content.  So now I need to manage that content.  I must organize it.  Refine it.  Make it do what I want it to do.  Looking at my writing as content management makes it simple for me.

You are a Writer

/ Ken May / Leave a comment

You are probably a writer and you don’t even know it.  Most of the time when we think of someone being a writer, we think of hard bound books and glossy dust covers with intriguing author poses.  Or possibly it’s the journalist stabbing at the keyboard rushing to meet a deadline.  Most of us will never be those people.  But I still say, you are probably a writer and don’t even know it.

Are you responsible for sending out the emails for your working group?  Do you prepare a weekly Sunday school lesson?  Do you contribute to a newsletter for your hobby group?  Do you sit down regularly to pen notes of encouragement to your friends and family?  If you fall into any of the above categories—  or any like them— you, my friend, are a writer.  No, you are more than a writer.  You are a fellow journeyman upholding the prestige of this ancient craft.  So, perfect your craft.

I have scoured many writing websites.  So far all the ones I have seen are devoted to that individual who strives for the best seller list.  But if that is not your end game, you are no less of a writer.  And you need a website that can help you perfect your craft.  I intend to bring that to you.  So stop back on a regular basis to get some help in perfecting your craft.