A writing on writing
Skimming through the pages of some newspaper, I came across an interview that said, ‘one must read at least 100 books first, to write 100 lines ‘. I thought of all the books I’d read, then took a piece of paper to write the most influential and blazing 25 lines of my life! If people were to truly, only write as much as they read, some good pieces of writing would never take off. It took me a while to understand that the interviewee meant, reading helps build a wider perspective of what and how other people’s brain work. With the added benefit of knowing your way around words, reading is a crucial factor when it comes to writing. It becomes easier to streamline your thoughts and be inclusive of all the important things in writing.
Reading for fun can work wonders and you must read left and right about all things of interest. From my observation, there’s this small population of readers that reads only for the sake of reading because hoarding books and bragging about the book count is fun. What needs to be understood is that reading should also lead to proper articulation of thoughts both while speaking and writing.
How then, should you convince yourself to pick up a pen, and to sit and pour your heart out on paper? There are zillions of thoughts running through your brain every minute. This clutter of ideas can be stressful if not organized and thought through. That is why writing works as an outlet, a therapeutic task to see things clearer. We often tend to brush writing off by telling ourselves; it won’t be worth the read; our journals, if ever to be discovered could become a subject of laughing matter or the classic excuse of not having time.
But you do have time and a plenty of it! You can bring yourself to do things if you really want to, without getting distracted by social media or video games. Your writings are firstly a way of expression before they become an article to someone else. It is for us to clear our mind before it is for someone to read. As for journals, they are less likely to be discovered unless you were in hiding in a basement for years or an established personality, voluntarily willing to share it.
In her book, The sorrows of Satan, Marie Corelli writes, ‘…morning and a freshly rested brain are required for literary labor-that is, if one wants to write a book that will last for more than one season.’ What she means by this is that we have access to the most creative aspects of our mind in the morning. There can also be a counter argument of how during night we can jot down the best of everything we’ve accumulated throughout the day. But we create blurred pictures with the traffic of thoughts as opposed to how we can see things clearly and express accordingly in the dawn. This doesn’t only hold true to books but even to a single page. However, it isn’t to say, you must strictly write only in the morning. You are free to write at any point of time when things click.
Writing helps us see where we’re dull and sharp in thinking. With practice, you can distinguish the strong ways of expression and use it to further your skills. No matter how bad people deny it, everyone craves fame as a writer. Because everyone wants to have a say on things and there are plenty of ideas lying around, one needs to stand out to be heard. It is important to understand that writing has to be graspable to the readers. It has to appeal to them. Use of heavy words can surely make things sound important but might not appeal to the reader if they have to goggle every other word. It becomes difficult and they are less likely to finish reading it.
Writing can be good to even make an enemy think from your perspective or have them engaged to your thoughts for a minute in the least. You can flourish in both professional and personal life through fulfilment and enjoyment. You become more knowledgeable and are able to avoid mindless conflict. It is a wonderful feeling to be overwhelmed by the clarity of thought. So, write!
