Why Writing Matters

Although I am not endowed with the gift of gab, I do have a strong sense of what the gift of the written word can convey: intimate emotions, deep welling thoughts, stark humor, and sharp wit.  The written word can convey all this.  Writing matters precisely because of this.

Mountain Sky - July 2014

Some people can make the case that talk is cheap.  So by extension, the written word should then itself be free--or at least cheap.  For what is a sentence if not a bunch of words strung together to make sense, in order to communicate with others?

But unlike a good (or bad) conversation between two or more people, writing occurs as a semi-one-way street where the writer makes the deliberate choice to get their own thoughts and ideas out there to engage with their potential readers in order to stir up complex thoughts and emotions; to make things matter that we otherwise would assumably gloss over in our glittery day-to-day lives.

Not that life is always glittery, but sometimes it is, and I really believe that all aspects of life are important to document, from the overtly beautiful moments of grandeur to the nuanced subtleties of the mundane.  From these topics, there would indeed exist many creative interpretations of a single real or imagined life event.  For instance, if a bunch of writers were given a single subject to elaborate on, each finished product would be entirely different, depending on the writer's unique perspective and writing style.

As a result, writing deeply matters because all communication--especially the written form of communication--is not created equal: some people have the gift of gab, while others possess the gift of the written word, while others possess some of each.  Those who fall in-between this continuum are the luckiest, I think.  But for those of us who would rather converse through the written word over face-to-face communication, the gift of writing can come naturally.

For some (meaning: introverted souls like myself), writing comes as easily as breathing air, whereas face-to-face conversation making for this same group can be very much like gasping for air.  Getting lost in deliberate realm of writing words in order to communicate is then my cup of tea.  The delightful nuances of writing, including the usage of particular words and punctuation marks over others, the revising of phrases and sentences, and building upon the tone and mood of a piece is a thrilling act.  It's equal parts meditation and a resonating writer's high.  For me, getting lost in the thick of this all is much like tapping into a poignant, rich conversation and its unfiltered ideas, honing into the very core of it all while inherently knowing that you've tapped into something you can't quite put your finger on--and then meticulously refining this jumbled core of ideas, word-by-word, until the thoughts coalesce into an amazingly coherent piece that reverberates to your very core.  To get to this thrillingly insightful place is not easy, which is precisely why the written word, as well as the writer, matters.

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I've also written about the writing process here.