Happy International Writing Centers Week!

This week is International Writing Centers Week! So, I thought it would be appropriate for me to share with you in today’s blog some of my reflections on writing.

Writing has something of an almost magical quality about it. If you stop to think for a moment, considering what the written word is and what it can do, you’ll see that it is an unusual system, one that is known only to human beings. As far as we can tell, seagulls are not passing messages back and forth with their feet, scratching out marks in the sand as they walk along the beach. Among humans, words inspire images, emotions, ideas, and a host of other conditions in the writer and, later on, in the reader. Words represent reality. They are symbols, standing in for the actuality.

We all tend to take language for granted, learning as we grow to communicate through speech first and then through the written word once we’ve discovered reading and writing. The written word becomes an unremarkable aspect of our daily lives as we pass by billboards or see advertisements and notices posted. We scan a newspaper or book without thinking of the essence of what words are and the manner in which they move us to think as we read.

While the adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words” makes a point, nothing else but words can capture meanings with as much detail and accuracy. Our system of symbols has led to invention, keeps laws intact, allows understanding among different peoples, and provides a way to record and remember our lives.

If your ambition is to become a better writer than you are today, the best idea is to read and then read some more. As you are reading, think now and then about the skill involved, what it means to be able to perceive marks on a page or screen that communicate what the writer has chosen to communicate…as if by magic.

See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! My next entry is coming soon. ‘Til then, hang ten!