Listening and reading

This is going to be a bit complicated. Writers read and listen to themselves when they write. Sometimes, it is the one time they know what they think about certain things and ideas. This has been echoed many times. Writers also read in order to keep up on what is happening in their field and to keep fresh on how to express themselves in words. Things get a bit dull when the only books they read are their own. In fact, it is rare that they only read themselves. Wannabe writers are those who do not read other writers. There are a lot of them.

Listening is an important skill for a writer to have. Reading is part of listening. It is more. It is listening to people so that the plots and stories that we write also stay fresh and inviting to the reader. As a writer, I am very curious about people and not because I want to keep writing stories. I really want to learn what is happening out there. When I listen to people, I hear stories I never thought I would ever hear about. I listen to things on television and radio but nothing beats hearing about what happens to people in everyday life. Walt Whitman loved to listen to people who talked about their jobs and what they did when they relaxed. His poetry is full of the things they did and talked about. His poems are full of life and are alive even today.

Every writer knows there is something inside that takes over when one is writing. You have to listen to that extra something, the muse, that leads you over the rainbow to the words, the stories, the poems that you didn't think were there inside of you. It is important never to ignore that inner voice. It just takes over and off you go into the sunset, into the sky and into the words that you did not think were there. Then there are the characters that are created but come alive on their own volition and start talking and telling the writer where to go, what to do and what to put down on the screen, on the paper and where to take the story. All that involves listening.

Now that I think about it, listening is one of the most important thing I do. It is also important not to listen. I don't listen to the Monkey Mind that says I am not a good writer and that I don't have what it takes to be a good writer or I try not to. I also don't listen to human critics who say things about my writing that I don't agree with. I do consider people's opinions and then I either take it or throw it out. That is hard to do. I have a ton of trash cans I put out every week that is full of stuff that people tell me and I put it in those cans and the trash trucks pick them up every week and there is none of that going out and trying to take the stuff out again like I used to years ago. What goes in those trash cans, stays.

It is fun to write. It is also fun to listen. I love listening to people tell me about what they are doing with their lives and how they are trying to survive. That is what all of us are really doing. No one lives a life full of promise and riches. Everyone has sorrows and problems even if the bank balance is full of money. Someone told me once that he would be so much happier if he had some money to throw at his problems. Perhaps. I know this woman who is my age and is sitting in a convalescent home because her health is very poor and no amount of wealth can change that. A wise man many years ago said life is full of sorrows. It was true then and it true now. Listening helps us get out of those nests of troubles and finds ways of dealing with the life we have now whether we are writers or not.