An Exercise In The Expulsion of Boredom  (July 21, 2002)



    I do enjoy writing.  This much is true.  However, it is difficult to write when you cannot decide what you want to write about and what form of writing to use.  I have trouble sustaining a narrative, telling a story.  Poetry was good for me because I didn’t have to create convincing characterization or conjure up an involved plot.  I was able to use descriptions and such to make a point or to project an emotion.  I think it is not too egotistical of me to say that I have had some success in doing that.  Twelve readers of my poetry can’t be wrong, can they?  What I am doing tonight is what the experts call “Going Through The Motions”.  I am writing this just to write.  So the subject of this little essay is, basically, what I wrote in the first sentence.  Please check the beginning of this piece.  Did you check?  Very good…. Let’s move on.

    So, writing is kind of neat.  Sometimes it can be painful. The subject matter, for example, can provide this.  Writer’s block is another painful thing.  What is nice about writing is, unlike breathing, you can stop and you won’t die.  We know what can happen if we stopped breathing, right?  Also, if something you have written is not what you wanted to write, you can change it.  I once heard it was a woman’s prerogative to change her mind but I know this isn’t true because men and women who write sometimes do a rewrite and, well, that is, essentially, the changing of one’s mind.  Writing can be painful but a whack in the back of the knee or a bee sting is much more painful.  

    Here we are at the beginning of the third paragraph.  We made it this far!  Let’s see…. Writing is therapeutic.  I know this for a fact because writing has helped me deal with many issues that I didn’t think speaking to another person would help solve.  Diaries are a good form of therapy, as well as a good way to recall the past, etc.  I would advise everyone to write at least once a day.  One doesn’t have to be talented to write for oneself.  You do need to be talented to write for selves that are not you.  What is talent?  Is all talent the same?  Is it possible for two people to read the same book and reach different conclusions about the talent of the writer?  The answer to this is yes (but you knew that, didn’t you?  This concept of talent might have been in your mind even before you arrived at this part of this piece, huh?).  So, to review:  No talent is required to write for yourself but talent is needed to write for an audience but everyone has a different view of what constitutes talent.  Be kind when making this decision for the author of this essay.
Thank you.

    Well, that’s that.  I have done my writing for the day.  I feel good that I was able to pound the keys in such a way as to form words that formed sentences that formed paragraphs that expressed ideas that were previously just electrical impulses bouncing around from one neuron to another.  Fingers are good in that way.  

    Hooray for fingers!!  Except the middle one when employed in an isolated fashion.  Bye.


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