Q: What is the nature of writing work that makes it harder than other work? Posted Jul-1-2007
Answered March 18, 2006
Writing is an art, but it is also a means of communication that must be clear for a reader (audience) to understand. An artist’s canvas can be painted abstractly and make no sense. No explanation needed!

Writing is deeply personal creative work to me. The words I write are the words I think and feel. I string words together to form sentences, paragraphs, and pages. Entire thoughts circling around in my mind are suddenly manifested in form. A form that does not evaporate as spoken words do. [fragment] It’s a permanent form that can be printed, copied and pasted, and plagiarized into pancakes. Oh, strike that last word and make it prose.

It’s also a form that invites red-inked corrections for all sorts of little things like punctuation, structure, and dangling participlings [spelling].

When I write what I feel, I am vulnerable. I allow the possibility to be rejected or criticized for my thoughts. Should I say that so bluntly? Or should I sugar-coat it as not to elicit an emotional response? Yes, this is hard work!

And how about the endless combination of ways you can write one thing?

“The black dog jumped over the fence.”

“The big chocolate Labrador leaped over the rough wooden planks.”

Change “dog” into “horse”. You see what I mean.

Write, revise, write again, wrong!

Other work, or “tasks” can be done with little or no emotional investment. Printing invoices, designing book covers, building widgets … you can create these types of things (or ten different people can) and they all look the same. Soul-less [spelling].

There’s my answer: the nature of writing comes directly from the soul. I think, feel, compose, and create all at the same time. Oh, and I know I shouldn’t, but I often revise along the way too. •

© 2007 Chris Dunmire www.chrisdunmire.com. All rights reserved.