Writing

See Poetry#Rewards Us with Fresh Seeing.

Danusha Lameris:

A good poem invites us back into the world and rewards us with fresh seeing. Often, we write to find our way back to ourselves.

From Amy Olberding:

I once fixed an entirely vexing problem with my tractor because of a few helpful words dropped by an old farmer in line behind me at the parts counter. Offering up the stuff you know in case others find it useful is just like that, a passing on of hardwon resources. It would be a waste of mortal human energies if we each individually had to discover the perils of mice in the wiring all on our own.

-- 1. A Beginning of Some Kind at her blog, Shadow Book

Olberding is writing here of her struggles to make progress on a book she is "ostensibly" writing, about grief and dying, and ends by suggesting some of the reasons she probably will never write that book. But on her way, she remarks on the reasons for such work - scholarship, in particular - in the first place: "If one has spent years in study and learning, there may be – really, should be – things that one knows that others do not, things that other people might like to know."

And so one reason for writing is this "passing on of hardwon resources." But I especially like the example she uses here, the vignette -- a seemingly unscholarly setting and interaction.

From Hannah Ritchie:

I hear so many people with expertise (or just thoughtful insight) on a topic grumble something like “what people don’t understand is that …”. Well, has anyone published a very clear explainer on what the misunderstanding is? If the answer is no, why would you expect any different? Rather than torturing yourself about the world’s ignorance, maybe you should be the one who takes the time to communicate it properly. [...]

If you have something to say, you need to get used to the fact that hardly anyone reads your work (or watches your video, or listens to your podcast) at the beginning. But post semi-interesting things consistently, and people will follow along. Sorry, but there is no substitute for putting in the effort again and again and again.

When I think about why we write, I don't tend to think about the reader at first. I think more about what writing does and, by that line of thought, may very well get to the reader eventually... or perhaps not, as I don't think we always write for others.

Yet here, Ritchie points out that writing can feel lonely. Imagining who we want our readers to be might do some magic on the writing itself.

(Posted first as my inaugural "blink": 2025-06-16_blink_hannahRitchie.)