conversation is an engine

Words Create Something In the World

May I steer you toward a blogger I’ve recently discovered? This generous writer visited a number of obscure blogs (including Conversation is an Engine) and commented. Many of us followed back to her blog (lesson learned on growing an audience).

Bottledworder wrote Writing in spite of the daily on January 20. It’s a post that points out the concentration and isolation needed for creative writing. She also writes of how much a privilege writing is—with which I agree. Down in the meat of her essay she disparages making a living through “useful” writing:

“useful” varieties of writing where writing is the medium to achieve something else, not the end-goal.

I use “disparage” lightly and with affection, because it is clear writers of all sorts are heroes in Bottledworder’s world—and I could not agree more. Still, her comment hits at this notion I’ve been thinking and writing about: does writing/creative fulfillment come only from digging down in the isolated depths of one’s own psyche?

That still seems to me only part of the story.

And for proof I continue to point to the exercises in creativity my writing has contributed to with companies and agencies, in places where we’ve joined as a team. Maybe those team/financed experiences don’t exactly duplicate the joy of writing something pulled from the depths of my soul (and that is a primary joy of writing, no question), but a true phrase that helps a company move forward is also a beautiful thing. Plus, it helps create something real in the world.

Again—there’s so much more to say about this. Here are a few early related posts:

• The Tradeoffs in Selling Your Craft (Shop Talk #1)
• Writing with Sheet Metal (Shop Talk #2)
• Is Your Job Fulfilling? (Shop Talk #3)

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Image credit: bottledworder, confuse-a-cat via 2headedsnake