Why I like to read about writing, and why I loved to write code.

I have read a fair number of books about writing, I’m working on a short story, which is to be the precursor of a novel. For some reason this reading about writing, and writing, relaxes me. It got me wondering, the other day, what is my fascination about writing and reading about writing?
It wasn’t until I rocked up to the park earlier this morning, with the intention of ensuring the dog was properly watered, that it occurred to me what one of things I was hoping to capture by writing. And indeed through the process of reading about the process of writing.
I started out my professional life writing software, it wasn’t really starting out because ever since an early age I loved to code. It didn’t really seem like work at all (apart from when some bug refused to surface itself and I spent hours / days trying to work out what was going wrong. We’ve all been there, right?). The process of coding was hugely involving and mentally deeply stimulating, trying to hold together all the different connectivity of modules, and classes I’d created, at the same time working out the kind of structured approach I could take in order to get to the final end result.
This deep mental engagement is often referred to as being “in the zone”. The world around you recedes and what you’re left with is isolated problems, all based on logic, which can be solved with enough noodling. It’s a seemingly pure state or a “clean room” of mental process, the housekeeping of normal life removed. To me it was restorative, but also engaging and immediately rewarding as lines of code chiselled out the shape of a solution to a real world problem.
Over time, and throughout my professional life, I have slowly moved away from writing code and become more about human interactions and business operation. Somewhere along the way, and I can’t really put my finger on exactly when, I just stopped writing code, I’d hazard a guess it’s been at least 7 or more years since I last hand cranked a class (*Although to be fair a couple of years ago I did have a pop at learning PHP whilst on paternity leave. This wasn’t the ideal environment, but it seemed like a good idea at the time,to my sleep deprived, addled, mind. The end result is I still don’t know PHP.)
So, circling back then to the my recent fascination of writing and reading about writing. What I’m really looking for, I think, is that deeply engaged mind, untroubled and focussed on crafting beautiful sentences and thoughtful plot lines. Quite why writing has surfaced in this way I’m unsure of, when on reflection I should just launch back into development. Okay, honestly, I think I do know why I’m not developing, it’s multifaceted, but practically, I just don’t have enough time to get back up to scratch with my coding skills, so that’s one. And number two I love stories and escapism. And finally, I think as a number three, I probably “solve problems” or “create opertunities” alot during the day and what I want to do in my free time needs to be less goal oriented, more open to just “happening”.
The practical upshot is, I’m hoping to get back into the zone. One way or another.
Thank you for reading and just in case you ever have a similar itch to scratch, here’s a little list of great books on writing;
- Stephen Kind — On writing.
- Anne Lamott — Bird by Bird: Instructions on Writing and Life (*No relation to me!)
- Roy Clark – Writing Tools
- Jeff Vandermeer – Wonderbook
- Colum McCann – Letters to a young writer
- Natalie Goldberg – Writing Down the Bones
