Why I am Becoming a (Real) Writer Today
Structure is my thing….
(photo from Pixels.com)
I have always been very meticulous about writing. From childhood, I was always insistent upon learning to spell perfectly. I won many spelling bees. I was always keenly interested in grammar. One of my favorite nerdy school activities was diagramming a sentence. Understanding structure and correctly demonstrating that understanding was just an intrinsic part of who I am.
I have always wanted everything in my life very organized, and I was obsessed with understanding how things are structured and put together. That manifested itself in a million different ways in my life. When I began to learn about geography, I didn’t like the way some state boundaries were completely illogical (as many human-made things often are), so I redrew the boundaries in a way that made more sense. When I learned about writing code, I created a program that created random class schedules for students. This of course was fueled by my annoyance at being assigned to a PE class as my final class of the day… and I hated PE class.
Beyond the elementary school years, I was intrigued by how protons, neutrons, and electrons come together to make atoms, and then atoms come together to make chemical compounds. I also enjoyed the logic of math, and I ultimately put those subjects together and decided to pursue a college major of chemical engineering. Later I focused on statistics and analysis, and built a career around that.
Now I’m coming around full circle to the original subject that we all learn first… the subject that originally fascinated me with trying to understand its logic and structure. Ironically, language is not even always completely based on logic though. Why one phrase sounds better, or is more appealing, or is more effective than another often has no rhyme or reason. Or perhaps there is a reason, but that reason is rather esoteric and hard to qualify or describe. Nonetheless, now my goal is to more fully explore and learn how to conquer that beast -- how to use words powerfully and effectively to benefit myself and others. And ultimately, maybe even the whole world!... But of course, that’s a very lofty goal.
For humankind, words are as effective as tangible objects. You can convince someone to do something simply by using words to tell them to do it … combined with the language you use to appeal to their interests or needs or desires. However, a dog doesn’t understand words… well okay, they understand some words – but on a grand scale, you can’t convince them of something or get them to question things the way that you can with humans with the awesome power of words, sentences, and language. You can get a child or even an adult to believe certain things, to do certain things, to buy certain things, to live a certain way, to vote a certain way… the list goes on and on… just by using certain words, phrases, or logic that resonates with them.
Thus, the power of words is immense. Harnessing that power is the key to the success of almost endeavor. No matter your specific endeavor, words and language must be used to propel that endeavor to the most meaningful and profitable advantage. Seeking that advantage is the path that I am embarking upon today.
So have I ever written before? – I have! But I never wrote with an expectation to display it to others. For my personal writing, I never adopted that mindset. I would write many things about things going on in my life and goals I wanted to achieve. But I never went thru the process of structuring my words coherently so that it provided enough context for others to read it. So now I am making a transition… I am “coming out” for a second time… this time as a writer! I’m excited to now think of myself with a new identity as a writer. And now I will live my life and behave as such.
Will I be any good at it? We will have to wait and see… But I know I am good enough to start.