Philosophy of Writing

I have a Facebook account and am a member of another. Yesterday, I posted a viewpoint about about a statement that was attributed to His Holiness, the Dali Lama. There was an accompanying news article that His Holiness was stepping down from his political role. I have great admiration of His Holiness and mentioned something about his role as a world leader. Someone who did not object to that but to a term that I had used said that I was not a Buddhist if I used it that way. I explained how I was using it and said that I was sorry for the confusion. He was not satisfied and said that I used other terms that were not in keeping in his tradition. Since, I explained my terms and am not a member of any tradition I thought the matter closed. I was still going to write my opinion whether he liked it or not.

The reason I am including this incident here is because I have written about writing before and wondered if I was not clear about my philosophy of writing. Some writers that I know follow the strictures of certain creative schools such as the one in Iowa as my friend Ted. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. Many writers who write today are. I am not. He even taught there for a while after getting his graduate degree. I think it is very good. I just did not go there.

I am self-taught although I have a graduate degree in education from the University of Kansas in Education with an emphasis in English and journalism. I have never taken any creative writing classes. What I know I learned from reading others and reading the books authors write about it.

I have a fairly laid back point of view with a ground base in journalism. I think it is very important to write as clearly as possible. I don't like reading dialect so I never write in it. I show it in other ways. I write poetry as well but since I can't hear meter I never write it. It is a bear to teach it. It is part of my dyslexia. Maybe because I don't hear it, I don't think it is all that important. I can play music only if it has melody and math is something I have never understood although I understand mathematical theory. I have to see patterns before I understand it. I figure there are plenty of people out there with the same problems that I have.

Once I understood there was nothing wrong with me as a writer, I just put my fingers on the keys and wrote. I like what I write. I like what I write in my journals. I like what other writers write but not all authors. I am reading about Marcel Proust now because I love his writing. There are authors out there that are supposed to be excellent and I can't understand their novels or stories; but there are so many authors that I can and I will never run out of them.

Marcel Proust is the greatest writer of his time and his work influences writers today, but he had to self-publish his own books at first because no one wanted to. Many people thought he was a snob which he was not. Few writers' work live as long as his does. I am not going to worry about mine.

The one thing I want to impart on any writer is to write what he or she wants to and not to shape their work according to someone else's standards or to the market. Lots of books tell you that. Throw those books in the trash and do your own thing BUT make sure what you are writing is clear and understood. Use your editing pencil liberally. And send your babies out in the world.