Writing and Our Need to Connect

I dance around the notion of writing without actually doing any.  I research blogs, portfolios, job types, and read books on writing and breaking into the business.  Yet, I do not write; I prepare to write.  Perhaps, I am scared of doing it. 

I have done some practice writings but feel the need for more focus.  Brenda Ueland and Natalie Goldberg, authors and teachers of writing, recommend “not thinking” in order to write.  While in theory this could open one’s mind to ideas lurking in the subconscious, I find by not thinking my writing declines and becomes mere blathers. 

I must think!  I am through with not thinking.  I need to share and be heard.  I yearn for connection with others.  To share ideas, learn together, and grow together.  I must share lest I collapse from lack of worth right this very moment! 

Lee Gutkind, founder and editor of Creative Nonfiction Magazine, speaks to this desire to connect through the written word, especially now:  population grows yet human contact lessens.  We go to the library or grocery store and can check out with a machine omitting the need to speak with another person or look someone in the eyes.  We shop online, never communicating with a living soul.  We text instead of meet for lunch.  20% of people, determined by a 2012 Reuter’s poll, work from home with no one to swap stories with during a coffee break.  Twenty-first century conveniences are driving us apart.  That lack of direct contact with others shows in Facebook’s growing popularity and tools such as Skype and Blogger.  We need to connect; we need to think; we need to share.

The question remains:  how?  Blogging provides one means. 

With that this blog emerges – a journey into the world of words guided by whims and experiences.  Hopefully, others will tag along and find new insights or perspectives and might be compelled to share their own ideas and viewpoints.  And who knows, we might actually have something fascinating to say.

Sources:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/us-telecommuting-idUSTRE80N1IL20120124

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up by Lee Gutkind

If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland

Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg