Writing

2003-02-07 - 12:48 a.m.

jodycoyote has challenged all writers to write 5 pages a day for the rest of this month. I figure, I'm already trying for about 4 pages, why not go for it. She dared you, I now double-dare you.

I love writing, and maybe this will be the entry where I can explain it better. There's something beautiful about having these thoughts crystalized into form before you, of selecting words not just for their meaning but for their flavour, their colour, choosing words for texture. Writing lets me explore the full depth of language, it lets me play with words, with thoughts. It's like the ultimate hobby.

It gets me thinking, and observing more. I watch the world when I'm in a writing state: I see things more clearly, perhaps not just as they are but for what they might be. Anything can have a deeper meaning, anything can represent a million different thoughts, any action, object, or person can be nuanced in a million million different ways.

I read somewhere that one of the ways that Buddhists work towards enlightenment is to think of themselves in third-person: by disconnecting their awareness from their actions, they're better able to see their place in the world, to see how they affect things and how they are affected by them. Writing is a little like that: I watch the world, looking for stories. How am I affected? How do I affect things?

I have 17,000 words on my latest work. They aren't all good, but they are all mine.

Cheers,

The Magus

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