staying true to my word

i realized just now that i haven't written anything about writing in a while. i haven't felt inspired, i guess, mostly because i'm using all my energy not to blow up AT washington (i know the CIA is onto me by now), and it's draining. i remember thinking that i'd never become heavily involved in politics, because i never saw the point. now that i do, i find that it's more trivial than i thought as a child. it's like a large high school machination. a popularity contest. a power struggle between rich kids and nerds. that, friends, is my scaled-down view of american politics.

so, i choose to turn my attention to writing. i haven't written anything of use in quite a while now. i'm at a loss on what to work on, so i'm just biding my time and doing some reading in addition to writing here and there on a *ugh* fanfic that developed some time ago. sadly, it's kinda good. just not profitable. so yeah. that's where i am right now.

you have to looooooove writing to be a writer. and not just aspects of it; i mean the whole entire process from the conception stage to the final edits. there will be parts of it that you dislike, but overall, it's a glorious, beautiful process.

i've learned over the last several years that words are important. what you say actually has consequence and isn't merely filler. in some circumstances, words are the precursor to action, and any action has the capacity to change the world around you. words build, words destroy. they edify, they tear down. some words spark revolutions. dr. king's words gave life to the most significant revolution in current history. they sparked action. but every year, we read his famous speech, and through those words, we live or relive that incredible moment of history. words, in my opinion, are just as strong and important as actions, perhaps more so. words allow us to be ourselves in a capacity that we would never be able to experience otherwise. words show us our true selves. that can be good. that can also be very, very bad.

our words mirror our souls. for the writer, our words are often born from a complexity within ourselves we didn't know we possessed. we're the chosen few who allow our dreams to come alive in plots and characters, and sometimes we live our fantasies through them. i know that i can be a little mittyish myself, often dreaming that my life could be something greater than what i have. those are the dreams i put to paper. and i'm sure it's true for writers besides myself, especially if the writer is to be perpetually dissatisfied. we complete one story, and then move to another. however, the difference is that we know everything, including the mystery surrounding the mysterious blonde. we know the ins and outs. and rather than allowing the story to play out as it will, we take control. we shape it and give it a distinctive voice. and then we release it into the world instead of holding it to ourselves. not because we want to show the world what we've done, but because we want the world to adventure with us. that is the true power of the word.

according to the Gospel of John, God spoke the world into existence. and we have similar power, though ours can never move beyond paper (or, for the extremely talented and blessed, movies). we can write worlds into existence and take people there.

and that, my friends, freaking rocks.