Why We Write.

2

February 14, 2013 by Halit

When I was a child, there were three things I wanted to be;

-          Stuntman
-          Architect
-          Writer

Out of those, I chose the one thing that I believe I could do really well in.

Sadly, it wasn’t being filmed jumping out of an exploding helicopter onto some explosives, whilst exploding.

Nor was it designing buildings. Although that would have been really cool too.  No, I chose to write. I do it because I really do love it. I love the feeling I get waking up in the morning, knowing I’m heading out to do something I genuinely feel passion for.

I’m previously written about this on a different blog, but sometimes it’s nice to go back to the well.

I know I’ll probably never get around to writing that novel. Hell, I don’t even have a good idea to start a novel with. I would very much like to however. It may take years. It might take decades.

“Write what you know” they say.

 

I just wish someone hadn’t already thought of the perfect title to my life.

 

Getting back to it.

But I digress. What prompted me to write this is because I wonder sometimes.

Is the written word becoming less of a thing now?

I’m a copywriter. That’s my job. I write copy. I understand that often, I don’t choose what I get to write. It’s dictated by the needs of the client.

However, this means that the times where I do get to have free reign should be the times I cherish the most. But when I read reams of articles about how web-writing needs to be this, or needs to be that.

Well it sometimes pisses me off royally.

 

Still reading? Good.

It seems that the written word is becoming less important, especially when it comes to online media. I find it quite amusing that there are articles written (with actual words) that are telling us that we shouldn’t be overly reliant on using actual words.

I understand that it’s not suggesting we replace the written word for purely visual stimulus, but I do think it won’t be too long before we, as a society, are overly reliant on the ‘shiny-shiny’  to keep us entertained.

Christ, it scares me. Shakespeare, Hemingway, Wilde, Goldman, Thompson. Replaced by distractions without any substance.

 

Fine. If it really helps, here’s a visual representation of the internet circa 2025.

 

I must note.

First, let me state that I’m not against audio/visual content in the slightest. In fact, I love it.

But it sometimes grates that writing on the web has to adhere to a lot of rules that print writing doesn’t. My underlying point is that that online writing can sometimes feel like a slog because you can’t express yourself how you want to.

It has to be optimised and scrutinised and lots of other words that end in ‘–ised’ just to make sure it even gets seen in search results.

It just feels a little tiring sometimes. Of course, writing your own blog for personal reasons is a little different. You certainly have more freedom there.

 

Pictured: Freedom.

 

This feeling about how writing is becoming something very different stems from the simple fact that may I’m a little wiped from actually writing. Both professionally and personally.

On the personal side, I found this post from Copyblogger extremely insightful in giving some valid pointers on how to reinvigorate yourself, and your writing.

Hopefully, I can go from this…

 

 

To this…

 

 

Once again, very soon.

 

Am I the only one feeling like this? I apologise for rambling on a bit but if anyone has any advice on how to reinvigorate yourself creatively I’d love to hear from you.

 

Parting Shot

“Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters.”

-          Neil Gaiman

{Images via blogs.discovermagazine.com, personality-spr11.wikispaces.com & upload.wikimedia.org}

About these ads