Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Writing again
Write what you know:
I automatically twist this to, “Know what you write.”
– do the words mean what you think they mean?
– and what sort of knowledge do they reveal?
Sometimes I wonder just what it is that people think they are writing – and how much of what they write is a veiled attempt to escape from the reality of the real they know to a fantasy.
Is writing what you know a deepening experience or is it just a futile attempt at expansion and aggrandisement?
Too often nuggets of value – real insights and experiences with genuinely wide implications - are submerged in the froth of language – or are sliced thinly remaining undetected.
The old problem of knowing yourself: being self-aware – in your perceptions as well as your assessments – haunts the advice.
Writing becomes an introvert’s journey – The man becomes the subject of the man (an existential dilemma – impossible to escape the self).
(I am following an online OU course - this is the first fruits)
Labels: Know Thyself, OU, Writing
