“A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket.” — Charles Peguy
“We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.” — Diogenes
Two Different Worlds for Me
Ann V. Klotz wrote an essay for the Brevity Blog that began with the sentence: “I write the way I speak.” It stopped me in my tracks and had me recalling what my newspaper colleagues often said to me. “It’s a good thing Pat Bean doesn’t write the way she speaks.”
I think it was partially because of my Texas accent, but I knew it was also true in other way a well. I actually don’t write the way I speak. My thoughts and verbal communication skills get tangled up when my tongue is moving. The truth is I started writing because I discovered it was the best way for me to communicate.
It is common for me to sit down in front of a blank page on my computer thinking I’m going to write one thing and my fingers actually type something else. While the words might actually be on the same subject I sat down to write about, they are often not what I thought I was going to say.
Writing clarifies my thoughts and pushes ideas much deeper and clearer into my head. I can’t imagine what my life would be without the written word. Perhaps that’s because things only seem real to me after I write about them, or more likely I only remember things as they were after they become words on a page.
So do you write like you talk, or are more like me? Do you know?
Bean Pat: Ann V. Klotz’ Brevity blog in case you’re interested. I find the process other writers employ fascinating. http://tinyurl.com/ozxkd9h
Pat Bean's blog 