I Write For ... Someone? ... Myself?

 

If for no other reason than to discover myself, I write. I often make new connections between the past and the present this way. Writing also loosens up my brain to give me voice to my positions and a better view of special subjects. As you can tell, my audience is made up of a few loyal readers, but at this time, quality matters, not quantity in that the therapeutic nature of putting words on paper is my biggest goal. 

Thanks to those who do read my thoughts. Someday after I'm gone, maybe some family member will take time to review the plethora of blog entries I've made over many years. I rather hope this way, they can "be with me" again in the words on the page. I seriously doubt this will ever happen: each one is so busy with his/her own worlds. I think my writing and my favorite music could reveal some real character to anyone ever interested.

This writing is a personal narrative, but not a memoir in autobiographical form. I choose to write about almost any subject matter that interests me, not just about events from my life. I guess you can glean more about my personal life by judging my interests, perspectives, and views on this blog, rather than by reading about my personal experiences. True, some events are included, but not many. 

I am not a very good story teller, so my autobiography would probably be dull, not vivid and filled with associations of people, places, and things I have encountered. That is why I label "All Things Wildly Considered" an editorial blog rather than a biographical collection. I know masters of memory and story, and, believe me, that is not my style to conjure images of my less-than-illustrious past. I'll stick with this weird editorializing and give credit to people like Pat Crabtree and Linda Scott for historical fiction. Both epitomize the beauty of the genre. I am so envious. I can teach writing, but I can't produce it like the pros. My scatter-brain takes an idea and too soon lets it loose like a kid might let go of a kite string in a stiff wind.

Not claiming what I enter on the blog to be art, I still often put fingers to the keyboard when I'm feeling specific emotions -- a gamut from anger, contempt, sadness, celebration, or just plain stress. If you have never tried writing when you have strong emotions, you should. It is excellent for struggling to get back your equilibrium. It's like taking a walk into an undiscovered forest --  exciting and scary as hell. Pen and paper or my preferred computer and keyboard, you just might find something interesting to share.

Much like a visit to the therapist, writing alleviates stress through artful connections of units of language that offer functions as principal characters of meaning. (I worked hard to produce that thoughtful mouthful.) From word selection to phrases to sentences to paragraphs to essays -- the various writing processes can straighten your keel and help direct your pent-up energy as you freewrite, revise, and produce a legible, hopefully sensible view. 

I may sound selfishly common but I write for discovery, and I use the internet to stimulate my own interests  as well as to offer me much-needed argumentative support. I love to see people use their own skills to produce words describing their unique thoughts and feelings, no matter the simplicity nor complexity of their usage.  

Writing "captures" ideas on paper and allows others to read these exact thoughts. It is this "trapping" and the search for precise delivery that drives the writer to consider audience and the best word constructions. I consider writing a good sentence to be spectacular, and I encouraged students of writing to work on little bits and pieces of word play that fit to unlock meaning. 

I hate puzzles, but writing and figuring out exactly what I want to relate give me great joy. Accurate, well-placed words allow pinpoint delivery. Never worry about when to stop revising -- it always adds more. Plus, use your own personal tone and you may understand how a style of individuality develops for us all as we put down letters to conjure our own meanings. I've taught beginning writers to blossom by convincing them to develop the confidence to use the language. The process is complicated, but easily understood by someone with something to say. We all don't drive a Mercedes when a Camry will do just fine -- style will come with practice of skills.

Just a little warning -- style is tricky in that it can't be forced or created through copying another's actual words (fluff). I guess we all still marvel as how Abraham Lincoln wrote the matchbox-short "Gettysburg Address" as one of the most admired, best-known speeches in American history. It's brief; direct; simply understood; and universally famous. "Divine" comes to mind. Let's look at it once more.

Gettysburg Address

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

 "But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

 -- Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863

Precision, you bet. Spirit -- without a doubt. But, even more importantly, Lincoln upholds the one central rule of writing in this famous speech -- The Truth. A writer must be true to himself and commit his words to the basic truths of the world in which he lives. How Lincoln nailed the ultimate honor of those thousands of lives sacrificed for an enduring Union. And how he succinctly ended with consecrating the battlefield itself under God to usher in  "a new birth of freedom for all" -- "a government of the people, by the people, for the people" while giving credit to "those brave men, living and dead who struggled there."

Lincoln's words ring with truth during treacherous times, and he captures the essence of the Civil War still raging as a challenge left for us all as "a great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion." Amen.

That address is great writing -- personally delivered from the brain and filtered through the heart of one of our greatest leaders. It is brilliant in its design and simple, straightforward tone. Yet, it both honors the participants of the battle and challenges all of us -- the living -- to do the right thing, no matter the terrible cost of freedom. And, it lives on today as inspiration for truth and justice -- let it not "perish from the earth."

You cannot fight the truth. It must be there whether you are writing about a bloody conflict or describing a soup spoon. Producing writing, even if for one's self, demands we speak truly in its relation to facts, correspondence, coherence, and pragmatism. That may seem like a tall order; however, we writers face the challenge every day of devising sentences, assertions, beliefs, thoughts, or propositions that are said, in ordinary discourse, to agree with the facts or to state what is the case.

A writer can feel his words are true: it's just that his words must also "feel truthful" to the readers of his discourse -- they must correspond with valid beliefs and accepted  theories. Going down a dead end -- like defending the Lost Cause of the Confederacy -- is wasted word and thought. I have seen all the concessions made for succession, but the evil is stained in its very being. It's indelibly written dark history is horrid no matter the economics, the slave-holding, or states rights issues of the times. Even slave-master George Washington knew his sinful character in relation to human beings and freedom.

Conclusion

Why do I write? As you can see clearly in this entry, I never know where the words will take me. I just jump onboard and steer my own ship to new destinations --  trusting that sometimes it harbors somewhere with good, clear, and righteous aims, yet sometimes it spins in wide concentric circles leading to nowhere other than oblivion. But, guess what? I never know where the process will take me, but the change of discovery appeals to me so much -- no Global Positioning System would help, nor do I wish for its assistance.

I wonder if I revealed any of my nature today? Did I mention I love dogs, hate snakes, and believe every hot dog -- make mine Nathan's -- should have mustard and onions? Oh, and if you are wondering what my favorite color is, I'd have to admit "purple" in homage to dear old Valley High. I told you I'm not good with narrative story telling or fiction. I'm just an old briar born and raised on U.S. Route 23.

A last shout out to Abe -- "May his truth keep Marching On!" Write on, Brothers and Sisters! *Let your sweet words loose on paper in order to preserve the thoughts and memories. Give it a go!

* We all know of high school annuals and their great worth and appeal. But, what if each class had a scribe whose function would include written descriptions of every school day. Wide open -- small stuff and big, not just major events. Even brief details become priceless. Photos and art could be added, but the words would take center stage. How invaluable would such a journal be? I have read parts of a like piece from years ago at the Lucasville Historical Society (1920's maybe?), and it was marvelous. Where have the words gone? Let's get that project back.