This morning I read a really good article about the benefits of writing. Actually, it was specifically about the benefits of writing a novel, but I think a lot of the ideas apply to other forms of writing. There was a few lines that resonated deeply with me.
Writing is about claiming ownership of yourself in order to become the person you know you can be. It’s about acknowledging to yourself that writing is not just a hobby, but a profound force in your life, one that will help you to achieve a deep sense of self-expression.
Writers don't write because they love to, they write because they must. Writing sets them free, it makes them whole. In an earlier blog post, I had written about how I wanted this blog to be about writing that flows from staring into space. Writing that isn't therapeutic, that doesn't aim to make sense of something (although both are useful purposes), but writing with a higher purpose. Writing is a way of relating to the world and to oneself. It is an act of harmonization even if the subject of one's writing is dark and morbid. It is an act of truth-making, which might seem like an oxymoron because how is it the truth if it is made up? I am not talking about facts here or entering into an epistemological debate about fact and opinion. I believe we have inner truths--ways of being--which have to be not just accessed through writing, or any other artform, but made. These truths are not gospel truths, they are not unchanging, so why call them truths? Because, as the philosopher Georg Simmel said, what is useful is true (as opposed to what is true is useful). Which is why I think poetry is such a exquisite art-form because it helps us access places that are beyond the reach of prose and make truths from what we find.
I suspect I might have rambled incoherently, so I am going to come back to the article. There was another line, which I really liked.
Try to write from your stomach, not your head or heart.
I have written before about how our stomachs are in tune with our inner rhythms, both physical and emotional. I would go so far as to say, the stomach is the seat of emotion rather than the heart. Our brains might verbalize a particular emotion, but if it is a strong one, we first feel it in the stomach. This is a short poem I wrote:
When you love someone,
when you fear someone,
when you miss someone,
you feel it in your stomach.
So,when your tummy churns,
ask not what you ate
but what eats you.
Writing is about claiming ownership of yourself in order to become the person you know you can be. It’s about acknowledging to yourself that writing is not just a hobby, but a profound force in your life, one that will help you to achieve a deep sense of self-expression.
Writers don't write because they love to, they write because they must. Writing sets them free, it makes them whole. In an earlier blog post, I had written about how I wanted this blog to be about writing that flows from staring into space. Writing that isn't therapeutic, that doesn't aim to make sense of something (although both are useful purposes), but writing with a higher purpose. Writing is a way of relating to the world and to oneself. It is an act of harmonization even if the subject of one's writing is dark and morbid. It is an act of truth-making, which might seem like an oxymoron because how is it the truth if it is made up? I am not talking about facts here or entering into an epistemological debate about fact and opinion. I believe we have inner truths--ways of being--which have to be not just accessed through writing, or any other artform, but made. These truths are not gospel truths, they are not unchanging, so why call them truths? Because, as the philosopher Georg Simmel said, what is useful is true (as opposed to what is true is useful). Which is why I think poetry is such a exquisite art-form because it helps us access places that are beyond the reach of prose and make truths from what we find.
I suspect I might have rambled incoherently, so I am going to come back to the article. There was another line, which I really liked.
Try to write from your stomach, not your head or heart.
I have written before about how our stomachs are in tune with our inner rhythms, both physical and emotional. I would go so far as to say, the stomach is the seat of emotion rather than the heart. Our brains might verbalize a particular emotion, but if it is a strong one, we first feel it in the stomach. This is a short poem I wrote:
When you love someone,
when you fear someone,
when you miss someone,
you feel it in your stomach.
So,when your tummy churns,
ask not what you ate
but what eats you.
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