Blog #7: Writing is Hard. But it has potential power.
I've never used this blog prompt before.
That's sort of a disclaimer. So like if it doesn't work, if you don't like it, you'll know that I was trying something new. (Whenever I try new recipes, I invite people into my home and let them know this is new, and at least I get credit for trying. If the recipe fails, company will be more gracious about the bad food than my family, who will tell me straight out that something tasted bad.)
And so here goes:
Writing is hard. And yet we write. We write for all kinds of reasons.
I wrote letters to my husband when we were dating and living 1200 miles apart.
I write in my journal.
I make lists of things to do and things to pack and things to remember.
I write blogs. Sometimes.
I write prompts.
I write comments on student papers. (Some students say they don't read them, and that used to bother me, but now I'm okay with that.)
I fill out forms.
I do reviews on TripAdvisor (sort of the old people Yelp.)
I used to write short plays. I enjoyed that.
I thought I would write short stories or articles for magazines, and maybe I will someday. I don't know. I will not write editorials, although sometimes I think my opinions are better than some of ones that I read in the newspaper. Sometimes I'm afraid that people won't like them or they won't get published or they'll just suck. I've let my fear of sucky writing keep me from writing in the past.
The thing is, writing has power.
At least purposeful writing has power.
And with that, I'm speaking about rhetoric. (Why not? I love rhetoric.)
Plato says that rhetoric is the ability to move the soul with words. That's a lot of power.
Rhetoric has the power to sell. It has power to persuade about guilt, innocence, wisdom or lack of it. It has the power to explore and seek understanding.
Right now I'm going back and forth on email with an old friend who is struggling with depression, who doesn't want to see me but is glad to have someone talk to her. Today she told me I am a healer, that my words are a balm that help people feel better, whether I'm speaking them aloud or I'm writing them digitally. That made me cry.
What do you write? What have you liked writing in the past? What kind of writing did you hate? What kind of writing will you need to do in the future? What kind of power do you want your writing (any kind of writing) to have?
That's sort of a disclaimer. So like if it doesn't work, if you don't like it, you'll know that I was trying something new. (Whenever I try new recipes, I invite people into my home and let them know this is new, and at least I get credit for trying. If the recipe fails, company will be more gracious about the bad food than my family, who will tell me straight out that something tasted bad.)
And so here goes:
Writing is hard. And yet we write. We write for all kinds of reasons.
I wrote letters to my husband when we were dating and living 1200 miles apart.
I write in my journal.
I make lists of things to do and things to pack and things to remember.
I write blogs. Sometimes.
I write prompts.
I write comments on student papers. (Some students say they don't read them, and that used to bother me, but now I'm okay with that.)
I fill out forms.
I do reviews on TripAdvisor (sort of the old people Yelp.)
I used to write short plays. I enjoyed that.
I thought I would write short stories or articles for magazines, and maybe I will someday. I don't know. I will not write editorials, although sometimes I think my opinions are better than some of ones that I read in the newspaper. Sometimes I'm afraid that people won't like them or they won't get published or they'll just suck. I've let my fear of sucky writing keep me from writing in the past.
The thing is, writing has power.
At least purposeful writing has power.
And with that, I'm speaking about rhetoric. (Why not? I love rhetoric.)
Plato says that rhetoric is the ability to move the soul with words. That's a lot of power.
Rhetoric has the power to sell. It has power to persuade about guilt, innocence, wisdom or lack of it. It has the power to explore and seek understanding.
Right now I'm going back and forth on email with an old friend who is struggling with depression, who doesn't want to see me but is glad to have someone talk to her. Today she told me I am a healer, that my words are a balm that help people feel better, whether I'm speaking them aloud or I'm writing them digitally. That made me cry.
What do you write? What have you liked writing in the past? What kind of writing did you hate? What kind of writing will you need to do in the future? What kind of power do you want your writing (any kind of writing) to have?
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