« Happy 38th Birthday Dave!!! | Main | Nostalgia for Things to Come »
May 18, 2005
On Writing
I was reminded today, as I wrote birthday cards for Dave, how much I like the physical act of writing, of watching and feeling the ink flow from my pen to form words, of having thoughts pour out the nib and onto the paper. It's so much more satisfying to me than typing, though at 65-70 wpm, typing is faster.
I think this delight in writing, this satisfaction and contentment, has been a long time coming. I remember as a freshman in college that I would write out my first drafts, type them into the computer and edit on the way. Now, I tend to edit several times, rather than just once or twice, and I may not always begin in longhand. But when I write things out, I feel like I'm getting somewhere. Moreso than when I manipulate electronics to get squiggles on a screen.
One of the few criticisms I received in my jury last week was that I tend to codify, to justify myself with my writing, rather than just existing. That came from the professional playwright on my committee. He has a vastly different take on the world from mine, so much so that I don't even know where to begin with him. I didn't even bother to tell him he was wrong. He can think what he likes, but that's not why I write.
Yes, when writing my exit questions, to a certain extent I was justifying myself. When my future is in the hands of five people who will mostly be judging me based on whether I explain myself well enough, I'm going to be doing a shitload of justification.
But that's not why I write. I don't write to explain things, to codify things for someone else. I don't write to produce a body of work. I write to figure things out. I write to understand and to clarify. And I feel I do that better with a fountain pen on nice paper than I do on this spiffy little IBM laptop my husband bought for me earlier this semester.
All that being said, I realized this afternoon that I need to be writing more. To specifically spend a part of my day, every day, writing things down. Whatever comes to mind, whatever comes to hand. As long as I can move my hand across the paper and physically make my mark on the world.
Posted by sally at May 18, 2005 10:40 PM
©2006 - All content copyright Sally Eames-Harlan unless otherwise noted