“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
Unknown
I have to be honest: I hate blogging.
I don’t think I’ve ever kept a blog or a journal for more than a week before I deleted it or tossed it in the trash.
Have you ever listened to the sound of your own voice, immediately cringed, and then swore to yourself to never again speak in public? This is the exact reaction I have when I reread something that I’ve written.
I read. I cringe. I delete.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not proud of this. I’d love to write a blog that made me feel good. I’d love to feel confident about the subjects I write about and I’d like to enjoy how I write about them. Sharing my thoughts with others is something that I wish I could do more. I think the desire to be known is something that is deeply embedded in all of us.
Alright, I’m going to deep. I was told to make this blog light. Let’s try some different quotes.
“I write to discover what I know.”
Flannery O’Connor
“The most difficult and complicated part of the writing process is the beginning.”
A. B. Yehoshua
“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”
Anaïs Nin
There, that’s better.
Here’s my take on these quotes:
- Writing makes it possible to better understand ones own thoughts and sense of truth.
- The hardest part of writing is sitting down to write. Writing must begin somewhere, and it must begin with a sense of abandon.
- Writing is a snapshot of an idea or state of being. Like every form of art, that snapshot continues to evolve and provides new meaning each time it is viewed. Thus, destroying ones own writing erases an opportunity for introspection.
Wonderful. Once again, I’ve convinced myself that blogging is a good idea. How exciting…
I therefore swear upon my sacred honor to never delete this blog or any post that I publish. To do this, I must accept the existence of my own awkwardness. I must savor the cheesiness of my own cheese. I must bask in the warmth of my own cringe.
I should also mention that this blog is required for my coursework (more on that later).
So unless I hate this blog so much that I become willing to fail the very last class of my degree, I’m just going to have to accept my writing for what it is.
Till next time,
Chris