Putting Pen To Paper
23 February, 2008One of the great difficulties I have had over the past few years is in putting pen to paper. I do not know why this is the case. In my early teens I was an avid writer, frequently writing on subjects of many different shades. Perhaps my time at university has had an effect on me – because I found I was writing more in getting assignments in, there was less incentive to write for luxury. Furthermore, my oscillation tilted much more towards consumption of writing rather than production. I have always read large amounts, but as I’ve left my childhood behind that reading has been less in the realm of fiction (though I do read the occasional fictional book, perhaps as many as a dozen last year) and more in the realm of non-fiction. If you read a lot, it takes time. If you spend time then writing and getting essays and assignments out of the way, it tends to squeeze the “inspiration juice” out of you. Of course, I did maintain a stint of political blogging with a friend around 2005/6, which I greatly enjoyed. Both of us found it difficult to maintain regular posting between the two of us while pursuing our careers or education though, and so had to pack it in.
So why am I writing this? I’m convinced that in order to be a better writer, I need to write more. While I have always had a good mind for constructing logical arguments, typically my writing has slightly let me down. Since I am now studying at postgraduate level, the written word takes a greater focus. So I need to be able to say more with better variety, better lucidity, and in my own style than I did previously. Undergraduate history and politics can be somewhat forgiving of writing deficits; commerce students get A’s in essays if they are able to string semi-lucid sentences together with more than one polysyllabic word in each. It’s not that I lack the desire to express myself. My brain constantly comes up with some reaction to something I have read or seen on the news, or plain thought out of thin air, which is potential verbiage. I just never seem to sit down and put pen to paper. Or if I do start it, finish it.
It is time for that to change. I need to write more to help myself write better. I also need to unleash some of the theological tension that has built up in my cerebral cortex over the past few years. Suffice to say that some will have recognised that I am not the man I was – God has been hammering away and humbling me in some key areas in my life, and that has reflected in my reversal on some doctrinal positions. I need to get that off my chest, and I will. But I need also to reflect more the other sides of my personality. I am more than just a conservative evangelical Christian. I have political opinions, and I should express them (so you have a greater idea of where I am coming from). I have hopes and fears, find things funny, and sometimes find my brain has ticked over some interesting revelation based on observation of things on the news (or television, or the internet). The more I express this, the more this site will better reflect who I actually am, rather than caricatures of me that could be assembled based on misunderstandings of what I say. Furthermore, the more I express myself, the more I am forced to explore the English language in the search of greater varieties of words, synonyms and turns of phrase to accurately describe what I am trying to say without falling into a pattern of repetition. If that means setting aside more time for writing and less time for reading, then so be it. If nothing else, it will do my bank balance some good (and cause a small downturn in Amazon’s profit margins, but that’s not my problem!). So much like my fitness regimen, my regimen of prayer and bible study, it is time to introduce a regimen of writing. I hope that the results are fruitful.Continue Reading >>
