We are souls first

I think someone who studies writing will write better, but I don’t think that is enough. The greatest writer will just have created a really pretty, but empty, page. What I mean is that our art, our unique style, comes from somewhere else. It can’t quite be trained.

Don’t get me wrong - I want, and desperately appreciate, the training. But an artist who learns the techniques of brush strokes and acrylic paints will not a masterpiece create. The masterpiece is born from somewhere deeper. And in that sense, I really believe I have a chance at writing things that matter, and that are meaningful.

What got me on to this thinking was a conversation with Jenni that I had last night. She said she loves to write, but that she hasn’t written for a long time. She said that when it really matters, like when she needs to write a report or a thank you letter to someone at church, she just does it naturally, and the writing is awesome.

I told her that she has always been that way, and that I have a shoebox full of letters from her, from the 15-year-old her, that probably read the same as the letters she’s writing now. I think we are first of all heart and inclination, and technique follows.

We are souls first, completely alone in our unique diverse speciality, and when we write, we are simply opening our shells, and doing our best to shape the outflow.

Which gives me so much hope.