My Philosophy of Writing

I suppose I’ll update this page from time to time as I change what I think and feel about the art and science of writing. But suffice it to say, I strongly believe that writing is about three things:

1. Honesty
2. Style
3. Passion

If you’re not honest, you’ll hate what you write and will either quit writing all together or just turn out crap. As my good friend Ashton reminds me, “Write what you want to read. If you do that, you’ll find an audience.” Being honest means writing the things that I want to read, the stories or essays or columns that make me respond in any number of ways.

And part of what evokes a response is the style with which you write. I’m not talking about whacked out crap like no punctuation or writing every third word in ancient Hebrew. No, I’m talking about knowing what your voice should sound like and sticking with it. Doing things with a certain flair that marks each and every document as distinctly yours. Whether you’re high-brow or low-brow, vulgar or virtuous, you need to write in a way that engages people and makes the language, story and moment your own.

Because when you can own the things you write, you’ll be writing with passion, and passion will bring a reader along farther than exceptional grammar or snappy text blocking. Give me someone who believes in what he/she is writing, and I’ll give them 10-15 more pages than the person who’s in it only for the sake of writing something.

So that’s where I’m at as of right now. Check back in later on. I’ll probably have something different to say.