I consider myself a writer, though I haven’t written much for a while. I made my income from writing for over 30 years. Still a writer is what I am. So I’m going to write more.
What is it about being a writer? One writes by oneself. As with speech, the audience is others. Writing is like talking to people but not as fleetingly as talk alone.
If put together well, the words may stick around– in saved emails, in a collection of letters, even in books. Unless recorded, spoken words fly away, unless one is a Socrates, who had his words written down by a Plato, or or one is a Johnson, who had a Boswell.
I enjoy the physical act of writing. I’m not sure where the letters are if I look at a Qwerty keyboard, but my body – my fingers – know. It amazes me to see what was in my head appear on the page or pop up on the screen. Revision is fun also – making a sentence more compact, or placing a paragraph so the words and ideas flow like water. Occasionally writer’s block builds a dam. Yet eventually the dam breaks and words flow again and I get a great feeling as I surf the words-wave.
What to write about? Maybe I’ll revise some of my occasional lengthy letters on a particular topic. Maybe I can make them not quite so pompous. I may expand on observations I’ve jotted down in many notebooks. I’ll look at drawings and doodles I’ve put in the same notebooks and see what they bring to mind. Here’s hoping I can maintain a light touch.
At regular Tuesday meeting with a group of friends, with their indulgence – I intend to read out no more than a page of the latest musings and seek reaction. If I interest them by what I’ve written, I’ll be happy. If I get silence, I will have failed. If I get yawns, my heart will sink. In any case, I should learn something. Maybe they might too. Reaction will be my only goal, at least initially. There’s so much I want to write about. Possible initial topics: Emily Carr’s paintings; why the parliamentary system is superior; staying calm in marriage; is death part of life or the opposite?; was Jesus insane? I’m open to your ideas, and your writing. There’s lots to write about. I’m looking forward to it.
Neale
