Here’s the thing. Quite a lot of the other 31 day blogs are setting a theme, and some are planning out what to say when. Am I prepared to do the same?
So far, no deliberate planning. A few blog ideas are emerging as I do my daily walk to school but that’s about it. And I think I’d rather keep it that way. Because this blog, for me, is about following a train of thought for its own sake, being spontaneous…all those things that can get hard to do in daily life.
Hard to do in daily writing too. I became aware that a great deal of my writing, over the years, has been planned, one way or another. Once you’re into essay mode at school, and later at university, planning is the order of the day. And it tends to stay that way.
Some of that is helpful, when you’re grappling with a big subject area. And I credit Dan with teaching me to use subheadings, which prove very helpful in web writing too…But I see that, even amidst the increase in planned writing at school, I was still trying to find outlets for spontaneous writing, mainly through (ahem) poetry in my teenage years.
Every now and then, there were points where there was encouragement to write more spontaneously. We got some occasional creative writing sessions where I used to work, with some ideas to help us start writing. I’ll maybe share those another day.
The thing is, it’s so much easier to chart your course. And that’s not stupid, either. If you plan, all those things that workplaces want – consistency, thoroughness, and so on – come in. And they do tend to be helpful. For work.
But for word junkies, there’s something of the flow of spontaneous writing that is intoxicating. You feel alive. You feel relieved. You may even feel peaceful as the words make their way out onto whatever form your page takes.
I’ve never really just set out on a physical journey just to see where it takes me. Money, logistics, all those planning things set in soon enough. But I can journey through words, with no real concern as to where I go.
As long as I can rest along the way at times, I’ll follow my nose for now. To quote Robert Louis Stevenson, in a slightly different context:
“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”