A Writer’s Obsession

MJ Vieweg
MJ Vieweg
Aug 27, 2017 · 2 min read
Wordsmithery is both burden and delight.

Ah, words.

They muddle and confuse. Such power. Like a magic spell, they can dazzle or baffle.

They can be chosen deliberately to break a heart. They can incite, cajole, or soothe.

They stop people from believing one thing and begin to believe another.

Words can conjure feelings, visions and shift thoughts.

They can uplift, guide, tear down and ruin. They can honor, appreciate, exalt, diminish and dismiss.

A word can be chosen over another just for how it sounds when said aloud, or because one is shorter and faster to write. They can be cut out and added back in.

Words are common.

Everyone uses them. But not everyone uses them well.

Words can be precise or vague. They can cost fifty cents or five dollars.

They are all around us.

Onscreen, on billboards, on signs, on labels, on bumper stickers, inked onto skin, brandished on clothing, sneakers, handbags, and lunchboxes. Graffitied on walls. Scribbled on paper. Printed on cans, bottles, cartons, boxes, packages, letters, doors, windows, cars and trucks.

Spoken into the silence. Hurled across the room. Bit back. Choked down. Spit out. Whispered into ears.

They can inspire nations or mean nothing at all.

To writers, they twinkle, flirt and stay coyly out of reach. Yet they are the needle that stitches the story to the page.

Words are given away. And kept. And taken back.

Remembered and reread and wished they were never said and wished they should have been said, could have been said, would have been said.

The fewer words a man has, the more respect he earns, it seems.

Words are precious. Use them with care.

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MJ Vieweg
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