September 6, 2006
Writing YEAH! 10 WHOLE NEW Reasons to Get Jazzed About Writing
ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 10:23 am
Writing in Times of Cabin Fever
Artists, designers, painters, woodworkers, crafters . . . all of us who put our hands in our heads . . .
First we learn the habits and tools of what we do.
Then we take on the values they represent.The real tools of writing are thoughts and ideas.
The real values are the relationships we make with them.
–ME Strauss
We call the time cabin fever. It’s the end of Chicago winter — no sun, not much sunshine in people. Everyone’s tired of being cooped up. One dismal Sunday last March, I wrote Writing–Ugh! 10 Reasons to Get Jazzed about Writing.
Jazz helps when you’ve got cabin fever.
Then it was over. The sun finally came, and we wrote. We wrote through spring tulips, young love, and baseball season. We wrote through summer vacations, the World Cup, and fireworks. We got into some serious writing.
Like everyone who’s been busy writing, I didn’t stop to notice much. Until today, now I’m jazzed all over again!
YEAH! Now I’ve got . . .
10 WHOLE NEW Reasons to Get Jazzed about Writing
The original 10 reason still hold fast. Writing is a phenomenal tool. What I’ve discovered are new reasons are about how writing has made a difference in our lives.
Here’s what I see and why I’m jazzed all over again.
-
1. Writing has given us a place we can meet. We talk about writing — in public now. Think back a few months, a few years, talking about writing was something that got left behind in school and in writers’ groups, or it was the private venue of folks who worked in intellectual property. Now it’s become the conversation of regular people.
2. Writing has led us to read more. In order to write, we read. Many of us read more than we ever did before. We read to find out what folks write about. We read to find ideas. We read to find out our own thoughts. We read more than we would if we didn’t write.
3. Writing leads us to read like writers. “If it’s in print, it must be true.” Remember that? Writing takes the shine off the coin and the glamour off the print. We’re not so quick to be taken in by words that “look” good. We’re separating fact from opinion more quickly and more accurately, and letting folks know when they get mixed up about them.
4. Writing has brought more of us to care about how we write. Good enough isn’t the standard any more. What once was a “have to” has become a “want to.” We’re learning to write for ourselves and our readers, not for our job roles and our teachers’ approval.
5. Wrting is making us better communicators. People talk back and push ideas forward. We’re having conversations we never would have had were we not writing. Each communication offers a secret something new that adds to what we already know about writing and people.
6. Writing builds confidence and expertise. Every piece we write is just that much better than the last — over time it shows. Go back and look. Have you stopped to see how much better your writing is since you started? . . . how much more you know? Other folks have. That’s why they read what you write.
7. Writing allows us to think more deeply — a crucial skill. People don’t spend time typing “small talk.” Only weather folks type about the weather, and when they do, they’re not having casual conversation. We organize our thoughts before we publish them. We consider the world differently in search of ideas and points of view to write about. We think about the folks who will read what we write. We no longer think on the surface of ideas. We’re learning to push past sound-bytes and infosnacks, so that readers have something to respond to.
8. Writing can make us better listeners and better people. We’re finding out people say the same things in different ways. Writing is the best way to learn that different doesn’t mean wrong, and letting go is the first step in learning. Sometimes folks send our message back in entirely new ways — they hear something valuable, but not what we said. We learn to listen to them and to ourselves as well.
9. Writing is contagious, builds relationships, and changes lives. Writing great content still means search engine ranking and link popularity. It also means people — real human beings. People come who take an interest in the writer. Writing begets writing. Conversations lead to conversations. Relationships grow between like minds, and people meet. How many folks have you written to in the last week? How many of those people will you meet in your life? How many folks have you met that you trust?
10. Writing can break down walls and build communities. Corporations are finding that customers write. Big companies are taking down their brick walls to listen and starting to write back to us. Walls are falling down all over the Internet. Communities are replacing them. There were 456 comments from people across the world who were talking to each other about their favorite neighborhood. Enough said.
You might find other ways on the Internet to communicate — podcasting, video — but they’re not the same.
Writing is interactive, individual and social, makes a person think first and filter out thoughts that don’t matter. What I realized today is the greatest way that writing is changing us.
We’re becoming literate people who know more about ourselves, the world, and each other.
Now . . . . I’m even more jazzed about writing than I was last March.
Can you blame me?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Joe said
Hey Liz,
+1 Helping Others by Writing…
I have gotten a few emails from readers that were influenced enough that they made a decision to do something they had thought about from something I had written.
ME Strauss said
Joe,
That’s a great one — fully in the spirit of why I woke up so jazzed about writing this morning. It’s changing things. Really!
katiebird said
(a totally off topic comment)
Liz, I just wanted to tell you that I’ve been following your example and answering every comment made on my blog. And I like the results. I notice that people are starting to come back and reply. But I also like the feeling it gives me to participate regularly at that deeper level. I always replied to a lot of the comments. But I didn’t always take the time to greet people when I didn’t have much to the point to say. I think taking the time to make that deeper personal connection is becoming important to me.
And I wanted to thank you for leading me in that direction.
ME Strauss said
Thank you, Katie,
It’s nice to know that something I do is having a positive influence on the blogosphere. It does make interacting with readers a more fulfilling experience. It also brings me to know my readers (and you yours I’m sure) on a more personal level, which makes it easier for me to write for them.
The connection between reader and writer is the bond and the promise that writing is about, isn’t it?
katiebird said
Liz, yes — I think that’s what I’m learning. And it’s a benefit of our medium that we get to have that interaction, isn’t it? Imagine writing your first novel and having to take that connection on faith for hundreds of pages before anyone ever sees it. How brave that would be….
ME Strauss said
Yeah, I know what you are saying. After years of publishing you get used to know that the “one great reader” that Big Roy spoke of is out there listening and you write for him or her no matter whether he or she writes back. So it’s not lonely or so brave.
But yes, it’s sure nice to be able to have a conversation with the folks who are reading and to have them says “Good morning” and “Good night” to you every day.
Scott Ahlsmith, CTC said
I’m into first impressions today. I try to pull-back and practice knee-jerk reactions after an intense day of burrowing into a project.
Yesterday I burrowed; today I react. Tomorrow, I fly to Orlando, but that’s a bright-shiny-object for another time.
Anyway, to my first impression when reading your post about jazz and writing and a place we can meet and talk about writing and jazz was the brasserie, La Coupole on rue Montparnasse in Paris.
La Coupole opened in 1927 (no, I wasn’t there!) and was the place where Hemingway, Picasso, Modigliani, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir met and talked about writing and jazz in public. La Coupole was their Successful Blog.
The difference today is that the Internet and blogs have expanded the community. The public place is larger, flatter, more dimensional. And, so is the conversation about writing and jazz.
Un autre café, s’il vous plait. Merci!
ME Strauss said
Yes the conversation is more dimensional. I can’t tell, Scott, for sure exactly what you mean. You could be saying that disagree with most of what I’m saying here. I’d love it if you’d elaborate a bit.
But I do hear this part: And based on past conversations, I think I’ll take you up on it.
So lunch will be in a French cafe in Paris? How grande! Nice to know that you’re buying. Thank you!
Scott Ahlsmith, CTC said
LIz, I agree with 100% of your post. I’m with you from # 1 through #10.
My previous comment was the product of free-association and a little silliness, nothing else.
When I read “Jazzed” and “Writing” in the title of your post and a “place we can meet” in your first subtitle, dining at La Coupole was the the first thought that crossed my mind. So I wrote about it.
When anyone plays connect-the-dots with my writing, they quickly learn that I’m prone to big gaps between some of the dots. I mean really big gaps!
Wouldn’t be cool to have a Successful Blog(gers) confab at La Coupole? The energy of so many great writers seated over the past 80 years on those long velvet benches still inhabits the joint and seasons present-day conversations in a uniquely Parisian way.
ME Strauss said
Scott,
I thought maybe that’s where you were and quite frankly it was easy enough to go there with you, but I didn’t want everyone reading to think that BOTH of us are nuts — they already know that I am. I figured you might still have a chance.
Yeah, you know, Starbucker’s already planned a Successful Blog Open Mic convention in Chicago for April, maybe we could tie Paris into that!
Roy Jacobsen said
Liz,
#7 is a biggie for me. Whenever I have a half-formed idea bouncing around that won’t let me sleep, writing it down is the best way to work out all the kinks and get it out in the light where I can see it.
I just finished an article about the benefits of plain language in business communication–benefits to the business, to customers, and to the writer. Here’s what I said about one of those benefits:
ME Strauss said
Well said, Roy, and well backed up too!
There are two writing quote I love
“Writing is nature’s way of letting you know how sloppy your thinking is” [Guidon Cartoon]
and
“Good writing is clear thinking made visible.” [Bill Wheeler]
Both are the reasons I’m such a writing freak. Writing is a key to deep critical thinking. We can’t think our thoughts if we can’t express them to ourselves in writing.
Timothy Johnson said
Liz - insightful post. Blogging has proven to be a wonderful outlet for honing my writing skills and sharing ideas and concepts with others. I’ve made some wonderful connections with others in six short months. Jazz and writing do go together so well and nothing stirs my writing muse more than a little big band or rat pack or more modern jazz. My wife is a writing and English teacher and I think she’s almost convinced of the value of bloggging to hone writing skills. Glad I stumbled across your blog.
ME Strauss said
Timothy,
Welcome,
Thank you. Blogging has been good to me to in ways too many to count — every one of them has a person’s name attached or a way in which I’ve grown. I’m glad you’re finding it to be the same for you. I also love the fact that your wife is an English teacher who values the social side of writing as well as the individual. I think I like her a lot already.
Thank you, Timothy, for stumbling over.
You’re not a stranger anymore. You’re a friend now.
Liz
TechZ said
Im jazzed about writing I am!
Now to find some time and write that I’m jazzed about writing, luckily we now have a 5-day week instead of a 6-day week, so more time for blogging!
ME Strauss said
Hey, Techz,
Don’t forget to try writing all of your ideas first. Then try blogging them one by one. It’s much easier on the brain than switching back and forth.
Roy Jacobsen said
Well, I guess I’d better be jazzed about writing. After a dearth of jobs this summer, I now find myself with a couple of big contracts in the works.
Wish me luck!
ME Strauss said
Yea, Roy!
That’s a time you need to get jazzed. It’s easy to have gotten used to not having to do the big work anymore. Turn on that driving music and let the good times roll. . . .
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