What is your favourite part about writing?
I’m rolling my eyes as I tackle this prompt. Regular readers know that I wrestle with the idea of identifying as a writer or artist or anything like that. I’ve adjusted to the idea that blogging is an art form and that blogging is a writing style. And I’m comfortable with identifying as a blogger, but the word ‘writer’ just feels awkward. It’s an ongoing mystery I suppose.
On the other hand, I also like the verb ‘to write’ – it is active and powerful and clean. We pick up a pen or pencil and we write!!! That’s freedom, power, and visibility. That’s why we do this, or why I do this. I write because it gives me control of my narrative, my story.
I’m not one for false modesty. I love when people appreciate what I write. I enjoy meeting people, I feel great when I can help someone.
But I’m also not one to pursue clicks. I share my writing because I have something to say, not because I want to be lauded for saying it. The dismissal of blogs as vanity projects is dismaying, but I get it. I read too many posts designed for the click to not realize how this beautiful tool can be warped to meet lots of needs, noble and otherwise.
Blogging can shred me like no other activity. I disrupt a lot of sacred secrets when I ask questions. I feel that weighing heavily on me. People pull away or get angry or chastise me. All of that sucks, but what cuts me to the core of my being is when people doubt my intentions. I don’t set out to hurt people, especially my friends and loved ones. I screw up, I make mistakes, I succumb to my baser instincts, and I lapse into the patterns I was raised with. Holding me accountable is different from backing me off. Asking me to blog about your problem and then getting mad at me when I blog about someone else’s problem is not okay.
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But I digress.
This is about what I love about writing. I love that writing can cause disruption, for good and for bad, because anyone can write. Anyone can pick up that pen or sit down to the keyboard and change the world. I love the sensation when writing just flows from me as if my brain has worked out all of the pesky details. I also love when I revisit a draft copy of a post and suddenly the ‘right’ revisions hit me. I love writing blog posts because they are tangible, useful, and manageable in length.
Writing is powerful. It transforms the way your brain and body operates. It has impact in the world, be it one other person reading your words or a thousand others persons reading your words. Writing is transfomation. It is defiant. It is an act of disruption and healing, sometimes at the same time.
I love writing because it a tool that lends itself to multiple purposes.
During NaBloPoMo, I am trying to generate 30 new donations for the #AMPLIFY project. If you believe writing is fundamental to your life, please consider a donation of any amount right (write?) now! Thank you.
This year, we are going to continue our tradition of posting every day of the month. But we are adding a very concrete goal – we want to find 30 new donors to the #AMPLIFY crowdfundraiser.
The amount of the donation doesn’t matter – it is finding 30 people to invest in our efforts to chronicle the experiences of LGBTQ neighbors that we will measure.
#AMPLIFY reaches a lot of people who come to this blog for other content. Leveraging 12 years of reach and credibility to lift up the voices of neighbors (240+) is as important as any original content we create. My job is to both continue to blog the original content and to manage the AMPLIFY project so that people have access to that content.
