Writing What?

I write.

And I mean that in a very real sense. I am a professional writer. I get paid for my mastery of the English language. Does that sound a little ridiculous to anyone else when I put it that way? Because it sure sounds ridiculous to me. Language is a beast, constantly evolving, bucking and twisting as if to throw people like me off. Describing what I have as "mastery" sends the wrong message. I just have a better grip on the serpent's back than most people. It's likely because I'm stubborn and more than a little arrogant.

I digress, but I return. Writing is crucial to what I do, and a portion of my free time is spent in the pursuit of better writing. That's what this blog is for, an outlet where I can write and observe the reactions of the people who read it. It's an educational experience, for the most part.

Education has played into writing in my life. When I was in middle school, I was a lousy typist. We'd played those typing games all through elementry school, but I never liked those. If we're honest, we played typing games in school clear into my sophomore year, and by that point it just felt insulting. It would have felt more insulting if I hadn't been one of the more proficient typists by that point. So was that proof of the validity of my education? Had all those years of typing games finally payed off?

Hardly. I'd fallen in love with the written word in sixth grade, and I'd learned to type because I was writing. Killing the most sharks by typing faster than anyone else had nothing at all to do with it.

I've allowed myself to wander again. Where was I? Oh yes, writing.

You see, I've spent a lot of time carefully analyzing my writing since I've become a professional writer. That is, of course, partially so I can do my job better. But there's also an element of pride to it, and not just pride in a fairly quick average typing speed. Because there's so much more to writing than that, and when it's all done correctly, it's a beautiful thing to behold.

There's another reason. I have learned more about myself by writing than by doing anything else. Putting words to the page helps me organize thoughts and feelings in a way nothing else can. I've come to some interesting realizations this way. For example, I apparently think that women make better pilots than men. In fact, I've come to realize that I seem to trust the competence of a woman over a man with the same talents and credentials.

I'm still trying to figure out where in my upbringing those viewpoints came from, but that level of transparency has helped me realize at least part of why I like Joss Whedon so much. He seems to feel pretty much exactly the same way.

I'm wandering again. Something I do often, as I've realized by writing this blog. My point is, how you write is often as important to the meaning as what you write, and this runs on a lot of different layers. I'll probably write about these levels in some depth in the future. It'll help me nail down exactly where they are. Maybe I'll let you in on what I learn.