Why Write If Not a Writer?
Yes! Why do I write? Why do I write about “drink” if I’m not a sommelier, or a trained aficionado of coffee or tea? Why do I write about “eat”ing if I’m not an accomplished chef or trained food critic? And yes, why do I write about “read”ing if I’m not an author or claimed literary critic? The answer? My answer? Because I enjoy all three “activities” for which writing allows me an opportunity to examine, through expression, my experience. Then presenting my pieces of writing for others to read, via the format of a blog, allows interactions for me to grow in these areas that interest me; maybe even “changing” the “me” that I am, and will, become.
I often share my “scribblings” with some who are accomplished in both writing and the teaching of writing, but also seek out fellow readers whom I listen to for deeper understanding in what I may not currently fully comprehend. I was recently reading C. S. Lewis’s book, Reflections on the Psalms, where he establishes himself as not an expert critic on the Psalms. He draws others around him in the “Introductory” with this stream of inviting words; “I write for the unlearned about things in which I am unlearned myself.” What? C. S. Lewis, “unlearned”?
He continues in this section of the book by conjuring the scene of two schoolboys solving “difficulties in their work for one another better than the master can.” Have you ever experienced or witnessed this? I have, on many occasions when I allow myself to travel this path. When I retired from my first career and had the opportunity to enter the classroom as a teacher, I often allowed, even to the point of encouraging, students to answer fellow students’ questions. The “resolution” by the master to this difficulty may have occurred so long ago, the master may have forgotten their own path through the “difficulty”. I only reference this from a viewpoint that we should not feel we need to be a “master” of something to write, but that we may advance in our learning through our writing.
I suggest writing provides us an opportunity to better gauge where our understanding has progressed. I will, more than likely, share other thoughts from time to time around this question. However, right now I just want to encourage you to “write” something today.