The SoapBoxers

What Inspires You?

Apr 13

Martin KellyRamblings from Martin Writing 2 Comments

Writing is a terrible thing to neglect. Without practice, writing becomes just a tool of communication rather than a gateway to expression. If you allow the everyday pressure of life interfere with your literary efforts and only write in response to ideas or events that push your basic beliefs too far, you become a whiner with a pen (or keyboard).

Many of my most recent posts have been about politics and natural disasters. My motivation came from the immediacy of the events. They were easy topics, and ones in which I had a great deal of interest. I have reviewed these posts and feel that I too fell into the whiner format, especially when addressing political issues. I will not apologize for the opinions stated, as I still maintain them. I will, however try to be more of a writer and advocate for writing than a commentator.

Realize that I am not criticizing the use of current events or controversial topics to inspire your writing effort. Rather, I am questioning the effort put into creating a worthwhile transcript based on eloquence and style. The structure of the piece at times establishes the major feeling of the article. The word choice prepares the reader to accept or deny the premise based to the perceived intelligence of the author.

When reading the classics, remember that the masters were not so much more educated, as exercising a wider vocabulary. The modern has provided ease in every area of life. We have food in abundance so that even the poorest people in the United States suffer from obesity. We have entertainment at our fingertips, in many cases for no cost. We are healthiest of any recorded generation, even with our self-destructive habits; from sexual promiscuity, to gluttony, to drug and alcohol abuse. We have even been provided with a reduced instruction set for communications; from tweeting, to instant message acronyms, to the use of a single word as noun, verb, adjective, advert and injunctive.

I am not complaining about the ease with which we live. It is an opportunity for every one of us to make incredible strides in all of our endeavors. Our error is taking these benefits of modern life to relax or even become dormant. In past postings, I have complained about global warming alarmist, who seem to think that they can save the world by redistributing wealth. I may disagree with them, but at least they are doing something. They are attempting to use the scientific advancements of the last few hundred years to explain and prepare for a concern that they feel deeply in their inner selves.

It is exactly these types of people I want to address when encouraging the practice of writing. Passion is a powerful driving force. With practice, that passion can be used to develop writing skills that do not simple express a view point, but take that expression away from bludgeoning to persuasion and continuous productive discourse.

I asked what inspires you (to write) as the title of this post. I was inspired to re-evaluate my writing from several sources over the last few weeks. I have been heavily loaded with my actual paying job, and this has restricted my time for creative composition. I found that my writing at work was also suffering; I was not conveying instructions, progress, problems or accomplishments clearly and concisely as is required when working with a large team of people with varying talents. I then saw a report on the difficulty in fighting obesity. The struggles that I have with my weight (as the topic of some of my posts) are not as extreme as those featured in the report, but I had empathy for those people and could see myself in their place. Finally, I watched the most recent version of Pride and Prejudice. I was struck by the vocabulary and ease with which all of the characters conversed. I reflected on all of these stimuli to evaluate what I felt was lacking, not just in communication in general, but in my writing specifically and why I felt the lack existed. The result of this introspection is presented to you here. As with anything you want to do well, you must practice. Therefore, I offer to you the same advice I have prepared for myself; keep writing.

Suggested viewing: Pride and Prejudice: