At some point in our lives, it's imperative to stop counting words and start writing as an essential journey forward.
Writers for newspapers, magazines or online publications are always aware of the word counts, the need for graphics and the inevitable subheads and bullets. And if you search for word counts for books, you get the idea that literature can be contained in the number of pages a publisher can afford to print or a server can store.
At some point in the 24/7 push for "news", writing became a rote chore. Consider how many articles you read that are written based on interviews by e-mail or phone, which prevents the reporter from responding to questions based on proximity. You can't describe the tapping of a pencil or the way the person kept checking her or his watch. We miss the tears or disdainful raising of an eyebrow that would add teeth to the story or article. It's no surprise then that readers race through online articles and promise themselves to actually read the ones that offer meaning to them, but never get around to it. Instead, many committed readers bury the magazines, journals and newspapers that hold any promise of great writing under the daily give and take of survival.
Through all this, we can lose sight of the reason we started writing in the first place. So, write to shape the world. Write to express yourself. Write because your words and ideas allow you to write your way through life and give life to true freedom.
Writers for newspapers, magazines or online publications are always aware of the word counts, the need for graphics and the inevitable subheads and bullets. And if you search for word counts for books, you get the idea that literature can be contained in the number of pages a publisher can afford to print or a server can store.
At some point in the 24/7 push for "news", writing became a rote chore. Consider how many articles you read that are written based on interviews by e-mail or phone, which prevents the reporter from responding to questions based on proximity. You can't describe the tapping of a pencil or the way the person kept checking her or his watch. We miss the tears or disdainful raising of an eyebrow that would add teeth to the story or article. It's no surprise then that readers race through online articles and promise themselves to actually read the ones that offer meaning to them, but never get around to it. Instead, many committed readers bury the magazines, journals and newspapers that hold any promise of great writing under the daily give and take of survival.
Through all this, we can lose sight of the reason we started writing in the first place. So, write to shape the world. Write to express yourself. Write because your words and ideas allow you to write your way through life and give life to true freedom.
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