ode to writing

Conveying the contents of your heart and mind on a page for others to read? Why do it? People will read your offerings; will agree or disagree. They might feel something, they may find common ground with you. But writing is most often not for you alone, but is an expression from one person to another….or to many others. What a gift to be able to communicate like this….to be able to communicate at all.

The sight of someone’s handwriting is unique and beautiful. (This is something that has been lost since the age of keyboards). We begin revealing picture books to children from the moment they are born. After that, quality writing requires no pictures. The text in a good book is rich with images, colors and light!

The texture of the page as we hold a book and slide our fingers over the phrases, informs the nerves in our fingertips. Touching the pages and feeling the weight and strength of the paper is grounding. We become attached to the experience that is “a good book”.

The smell of a musty book can be comforting. It’s as if many introspective people have been right “inside there” before you, spilling drops of coffee on the pages or smudging the ink with buttery fingers.

Good taste is a homonym, and clever writers employ these ably! (How many of these words can you sense in two different ways: bAt, fAiR, LiE, LeAd, mInUtE, ReFuSe, PrOjEcT, EnTrAnCe, RoW, wInD, CoNtRaCt)? Choosing each word laboriously when writing uncovers your own good taste when you write.

Thousands of character’s voices are heard in our ears as we lap up the pages of our favorite novels; the contents of our favorite biographies. The letters from our parents and relatives that are tucked in desks and drawers can ferry loving voices to us long after our people are gone.

Writing is what we do, or don’t do. Is there someone out there who wants your voice on paper, in their hands?