Words: 642
Time to read: 3 minutes
In general, I have always been a writer. I remember writing full-length novels (or at least to my imagination) when still in elementary school. I was particularly taken with mysteries. I still am. However, the key factor here is that I no longer write as I should. I know that I need to be writing. I know that I will be writing more. I just have to do it. Seth Godin and Jordan Peterson can be thanked for this revival in my personal striving for excellence. I know that most of all that I write will be garbage. That’s fine. No one even has to read what I produce. It’s not about that. It’s simply about being honest and brave enough with myself to not only produce but to publish what I write. I’ve tried many different formats over the years. One that has consistently been a boon for me is the pen and paper of a journal. I still love that and will never stop that. But—I need more. So this is the format that I will work on for more essays, blogs, books, and other writing projects. I need to be writing daily. Refining my style. Working on the prose of my words. Writing is far more than mere substance. Its form too is important.
You don’t need any more motivation. That comes and goes over the years. It’s not the motivation. It’s the application. The execution has been lacking. Sure, there are a million reasons why you can’t (or don’t) write. But none of them truly amount to anything in the grand scheme when analyzing the true benefits of why you should be writing. Certainly, don’t feign yourself to be the most informed or to have the most cogent of arguments. But, you can write. You must write. Peterson had this to say of writing, “Ideas change the world, particularly when they are written. The Romans built buildings, and the Romans and the buildings are both gone. The Jews wrote a book, and they are still here, and so is the book. So it turns out that words may well last longer than stone, and have more impact than whole empires.” Don’t even begin to equate what you do with God’s Word, but Peterson carries an interesting point. Writing is the bedrock of continuous societies and the propagation of its ideals.
It is keenly interesting also that writers can be considered artists. Art surely has a way of expressing complex ideas, notions, and philosophies in a manner that few other mediums can. Writing is more than just an assimilation of ideas or distilling of wisdom. It’s a form of communicating, dialoguing, and—quite obviously—informing your reader of what you hold to be the truth. It may not be self-evident. But that’s where the prose and beauty of writing begins. Rather than brusquely stating the obvious—or not so, in many cases—it can be done in a manner that is both academically sound and emotionally pleasing. Verbose it need not be. But thoughtful and cogent are requisite. Art can be mercurial at times. Its form sometimes does not meet the expected standard and its function may not be readily apparent. But writing—without a doubt there are exceptions—should be neither non-conforming nor complicated in its application.
So then, off to the writing. No more delays. Ship it even if it stinks. There is far greater value in the thing written—the bird in hand—than the acute argument still yet to be fleshed out—the two in the bush. The kid inside knows what he’s to be doing. The value that is yet to be created. The power of the word is still needed today. Do not be a mere spectator. Get writing. You need it more than you realize.
Quite frankly, so does the world.