Joseph Gergen Works

I came across some Tweets the other day on writing that had two themes. One was why do you write and who do you write for, and quite a lots of others focused on how one might write.

The why question led me in the direction of motivation. Because I couldn’t really answer the question directly or with clarity, I landed on therapy as my motivation. And I’m okay with that.

The other focus seemed more technical. I’m not a particularly technically oriented person. In fact I am whatever the opposite of that is an so wasn’t really moved by the theme.

But I can understand the need to ponder these things. Especially when you might be buffeted around by the endless opinions on writing and feel overwhelmed or lost or confused by a thousand contradictions. Of all the opinions out there how do you choose what to consider?

But then I thought if I want to be grounded in this gale of input, the question I really need to ask is: Who am I?

Who are you? Certainly not a simple question. But not necessarily an impossible one. I suspect I know something about myself. I suspect you do too.

I can take a quick inventory of myself and see how those might help me ground myself against the winds of opinion that never end.

Well, I have already mentioned I am not technical, which includes not being detail oriented. So any advice that tells me I need to be descriptive is off the table. I’m conceptual and will be that way until I die. Also worrying too much about typos and spelling errors is off the table. I use spell check and the rest is someone else’s problem.

I am introverted and extremely sensitive so any advice about readers’ groups and beta readers is not happening. I tried some readers groups years ago and that was painful, and I am not the suffer for my art kind of person. And as for beta readers, no thanks. I do abstract painting and at no point would I ask for someone’s advice on how I should proceed with my painting. So same thing with writing.

I could go on and on but that would get boring (might already be boring). I guess the point is knowing who I am (as much as anyone knows oneself) helps keep me grounded when I am buffeted by opinions.

I’m not even sure what the point of this post was and am I am so grounded I don’t care. LOL.