Christopher Street

Reading and Writing

Here's the thing. If I could write like Jessamyn, I would never take my hands off the keyboard. If you aren't reading her, man--you should be.

On the subject of writing, someone asked me the other day why in the world I do this--you know, write personal things and then publish them for all the world to see. After explaining that, for me, there is a huge distinction between personal and intimate--and that I share the former freely and the latter never--I told him that I like to write.

And then I realized that that was a lie.

I don't really like to write. I find it tedious. I am a pretty good talker, but writing--well, let's just say that it takes writing and rewriting and rewriting to even come close to being able to express myself with half the precision that I find second-nature with the talking. And so it frustrates me. And sometimes, I just can't get it, just can't capture the moment, the joke, the subtlety of a phrase, the complexity of an emotion. I just can't do it. Not all the time and not consistently well. But I keep plugging away, because sometimes--sometimes--I write something that I like, something that I think is funny, or evocative or poignant and then I feel a sense of accomplishment that is different from what I feel when I do something easy, something effortless. I feel like I have done something real.

And that's pretty cool.

Posted by Lori at April 16, 2003 5:06 PM