Writing to See
Dear Fellow,
I thought more about writing than anything else in the past four weeks. That is not an accomplishment or something to brag about. It only shows the circumstances around my life at the moment.
A virtual writing fellowship where I am the team lead commenced last week Saturday, and our first lecture will hold later today. Planning the fellowship and interactions with the fellows conditioned my mind to be more alive to any thought or remark that speaks to the craft. When reading, even the Bible, my mind easily spots a line or two that speaks to the craft. For example, 2 Corinthians 1:13 shines brightest in my eyes when reading from verse 12 to 23. That is where Paul wrote, "For we do not write to you anything you cannot read or understand." Or where he wrote in the second chapter of the same book, "For I wrote to you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you" (v. 4, NIV)
In both instances above, Paul's message was not about writing. This rather suggests the aim of this second letter to the Church of God in Corinth: "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia” (2 Corinthians 1:8a, NIV). But I couldn't miss out on those little ponderings on the craft in the entire body of work.
Image source: The Hans India
In the past four weeks, I have had more interactions on the craft. With writers, old and young, that I have access to. It has been about learning new ideas, unlearning and relearning old ones. My mind has been shaped on the craft like never before.
In today's despatch, I am putting to test one of the major ideas I picked up on the craft. The idea of writing as a means of discovery. A situation where the message I want to communicate is unclear to me as I pick up my pen. But when writing eventually, the message crystallises as my thoughts unravel. Dawson Trotman summarises the idea better. "Thoughts," he wrote, "disentangle themselves when they pass through your fingers."
So, I had time to write this despatch yesterday but I couldn't. I couldn't because I felt I haven't figured out what I want to communicate to you yet. The title was set, just as it sits above this piece. But I wanted a mental outline of the piece before I get on the keyboard - to know what to say at every segment of this piece. It didn't happen that way.
Until midnight, I couldn't schedule the despatch. I went to bed with the idea hoping I don't oversleep. At 4, I was awake. Said my prayers and got busy on this page. To this very point, the clock says I have been unraveling my thoughts for over thirty minutes. And by now, I am confident you get the message in this despatch - or the idea, or even both.
Writing, I see, is not always about communicating to someone else; it is also an adventure into uncharted territories, a journey the mind embarks on to the discovery of ideas it has never known before. Writing is reaching for clarity in our thinking.
I hope, at this point, you have answers to every question this despatch aroused. If not, share your unanswered questions in the comment. I'll do well to respond to them in subsequent despatches.
Thank you for staying with me to this point, good Fellow. Have a restful weekend.
Your LetterMan,
Tongjal, W. N.