Chapter 19 — Let’s talk about words.
Or lexis, if that’s more your lingo.
Words top my list of favourite things that exist in the world.
Words can cover a page or fill a room. They can power your day or ruin your week. Make you laugh or cry. Smile or frown. They can even be the difference between life and death.
I said it in Chapter 17 (here): written words are my thing. I’m not against public speaking — I enjoy it — but typing or scribbling is much more naturally enjoyable. I live for the written word. The written word shapes my life.
Ever since I started these Chapters, my mind has been suggesting ideas to me randomly throughout each day. I haven’t a clue when an idea will flash through my head, but I aways note it down. And when I do, my mind gets back to work thinking about how that idea can be crafted in to a Chapter.
It’s a tough job, building a Chapter. Each one is created from the ground up, every single day. Some days I might be on a solid creative flow and so make some notes for future days, but otherwise, each Chapter is a daily task.
Which is why it’s important to me that my words make sense, and that you feel something when you read the words I’ve written. I take my time because I care about you, my audience, even though it’s not that big.
A lot of writers don’t care about their audience. They don’t make their writing approachable or welcoming. They make their paragraphs longwinded. Paragraphs which are full of archaic or long-since abandoned words that boggle the brain and twist the tongue. The ideas that jump from their lenthy chronicles are muddled and confusing. You feel inferior to the genius, but lexically flawed, mind of the author who hasn’t cared to put his thoughts to print in a way that is approachable. As soon as you lift your eyes away from the page or the screen, you question why you ever thought to read this particular text in the first place.
And isn’t it sad that we’re sometimes forced to think like that? It shouldn’t be that way, and I’ll never allow my writing to head down that path. If you write, make the same commitment. Those reading your words should feel like they’re part of a conversation.
For me, personality is pretty damn important. I craft Chapters in the same way I’d want to speak them. I read everything back and imagine talking to you, my reader, using the exact words I’ve written. Gifs also help.
If you don’t write, that’s cool. But if you genuinely believe you could talk for hours about music, gaming, art, film, TV, sport, science, technology, wildlife, food, drink, travel, rocks, paper, scissors, water, electricity, metal, architecture or pens and keep me listening, then write about it. Someone somewhere will enjoy the words you publish.
And if you need some help, you know where to find me. If you don’t, then read below the line.
