Can Your Own Writing Change You?

One of the advantage in not knowing whether I have readers is having the freedom to write what I want without hesitation. I would hope if I had lots of readers, I would do the same. However, I realized that what I wrote yesterday evening here (don't pay attention to the official date and times of when these blogs are written because I am on Korean time and these blogs are on some other time.)changed the way I view what I write about.

I was a teacher of journalism for a while and I used to tell the students that we should look look at the student newspaper as if it was the New York Times and it has to be the very best we can do. Many of the students did not respect their own newspaper that much. I did. I like to believe that my blog is right along the best in the business of blogging although in reality it may not be. Who is to say what is best and what is not? It's mine and that is what counts.

I ask myself if what I am writing will contribute something positive the world of letters and if it doesn't I don't put it down. I often go through some written articles on a few publications and sometimes I recommend them for my Facebook page. This morning, I used the same criterion. Is it mean-spirited and does no one any good or is it valid criticism that is basic information that needs to be out there?

I would never have guessed that what I have written would have changed the way I do things. It has. Of course, I quoted other people in my essay of sorts but the general scope of the ideas were mine and they changed the way I do things. They did fit my philosophy and ethical bent. I would not have accepted them so readily unless they did. Maybe, it is Jon Stewart that changed me. Still, it tickled me that I would have been an influence to myself. Here I am, sitting in Daejeon, Korea alone in my tiny apartment giggling over something that I wrote. Maybe, I need to get out of my apartment today. It is a beautiful day.