On Writing — A Muse
I mused back in 2019 on LinkedIn ‘On Writing’… here’s that muse. I dusted it off as I write a Chapter On Writing in my book…
A muse on — “Writing”
For as long as I can remember I have loved to write. Most of my writing has been in the corporate and work context, yet I still enjoy it. Secondarily there’s been speeches, poems and prose, blogs, and a few tributes too. A short book has been beckoning for a while also.
While writing late last week, and with more time on my hands than normal, I was prompted to pause and reflect on the ‘why’ of writing, and particularly ‘my why’ connected to writing.
I booked neuroscientist Dr Fiona Kerr to speak at a conference a few years ago and learned from her what happens in our brains when we write. Fascinating stuff and it validated why I still prefer to reach for a pen (initially) over a keyboard.
Susan Sontag said, “literature is freedom”. Further research has suggested that writing, also, is freedom. ‘By writing we unblock those profoundly emotional places of the cerebral cortex and impress them there, in the possibility of an encounter with a reader.’
Seth Godin has a point of view on writing too. ‘Writing is your opportunity to stand out, to pitch in and to make a difference. Writing is organized thinking on behalf of persuasion, and a symptom of thinking.’
Unsurprisingly my ‘Literary’ score on the Birkman ‘Interests at Work’ is quite high. The practical interpretation of the Literary interest in Birkman terms is ‘a sensitivity for language and communication particularly in the written form’.
So there you have it, writing for me is organised freedom, thinking on behalf of persuasion, a symptom of thinking, a sensitivity for language in the written form. Perhaps I will keep writing…
Will you make space for your version of thinking and creative expression this week?
