When Writing Publicly Changes How You Write, Why Do We Still Write?
The typical post people write about being away from writing seems to grace the pages of almost every blog I have ever read. For the first time in the 10–15 years that I have been writing on my own blog, I took a year off from writing anything publicly and stuck to twitter snippets of under 140 characters. Though I did stop writing for public consumption, I never stopped writing, especially when it comes to entries in my DayOne App (the best journal writing app ever by the way).
I had wanted to take this break for a while, to get some perspective, and I did. After being away for so long I kept wondering if I would ever come back, what the purpose is/was, and why it even matters if I would ever write another word in a world already filled with so much noise as it is. I don’t know at what point you become a writer any more than I knew at what point you became a photographer, but when writing becomes a part of who you are, you can’t help but write, somewhere, regardless of audience.
Reasons Not to Write
When it comes to choosing not to write, I tried to find reasons behind these statements.
- It takes too much time.
- There is enough noise out there already.
- No one wants to read every thought that crosses the mind, ever (that’s still the case).
- Ultimately, who cares what’s “not created” by a writer.
- I had lost the freedom of speech on my own site.
I doubt those questions have answers for the most part, and it is the stereotypical question and response of everyone who wants to start a blog but never does. In the end it was #5 that really tore me up, and one reason why I have fallen in love with Medium. I found that I was writing to please my audience, writing not to upset or offend my audience, betraying at least my own mind in words to soft to matter. [I did almost the same thing with my photography, and for almost two years now I have refused to do a paid photo shoot, but that’s a whole different article.]
Ultimately, what’s worth doing is worth doing, even, or especially, if there is no recognizable audience at the time. Writting is somewhat like doing life together with the rest of the world. It leaves you open to ridicule, criticism, trolls (see a great article ‘Your Opinion is Obsolete‘), and oblivious objecting observers, when not writing removes those negativities.
But as some would say, the easiest thing for a writer to do is not to write.
Be Inspired by Other Writers
I was somewhat inspired to get back to writing here after reading Roger Angell’s “Five Seasons” this past off season, the start of the Auburn baseball season, and the honest reflections of another sports writer who recently lost his job. Then for some reason, I became responsive to that inspiration after reading Joe Posnanski’s post about what was on his book shelf. It had nothing to do with the list of books he calls great (which was great), but by his opining about his office and how long it took him to come to the point. Great writing is like that. It’s the journey to the finishing point that creates the pleasures of wading through the details. You almost want the writer to slow down because you know the end is in sight.
As a writer (that is the act of writing something original… I make no claims to be on the level with the likes of Angell or Posnanski), that last one on the list still bothers me the most. Once you start writing to please, or to not offend, the writing becomes less real, contains less of me. I still haven’t figured this one out. I admire those who have found the answer, or have ignored the question all together and just plowed ahead.
In the end, I hate being just a consumer of material. I read countless articles, blogs, news stories, books, and other writings where the authors’ purpose was only fulfilled long after it was written. The purpose of the written word is, to be read, by somebody at some time, even if the knowledge of that purpose is never know by the writer himself. So… I write.