Writing, and Reading

On By Allan GrantIn faith, life
Wildflower variety

This website was started during the COVID pandemic. That was over 5 years ago and this is now my 97th post. My list of ‘top 100 tags+++’ have covered an eclectic range of things. I am both surprised and encouraged by that. Also that I am still going. Yet this past year I have slowed down. Despite liking to write, the process has not got any easier. Mostly it is more hard work than riding some creative wave. 

In my experience there are several issues that consistently present themselves in the art of blogging.

My story is not interesting
I think no one is curious regarding the ordinariness of my life. When an unusual event or life occasion occurs it is often motivating to write. Something concrete or factual that is part of my experience is easier to relate. Yet most of my days are routine and fairly unremarkable. And facts on their own are unlikely to foster much interest. Especially so in an age when information is an abundant currency. Describing authentically my feelings and observations is the spice in the mix. 

Not wanting to appear vulnerable
To a degree I believe people don’t need to know things that are too personal. Yet there is a paradox. Being human is what we are all engaged in. A part of that is our fragility, our weaknesses and struggles in the business of living. Most of us are drawn to people being themselves. Many things we struggle with are common to us all. I think too much of what you, the reader, might think.

“what is most universal is most personal and indeed nothing human is strange to us“.

‘Reaching Out’, Henri Nouwen

Starting to write but never finishing
There are dozens of half formed written down ideas that I never seem to progress on. Writers block is part of the experience for me. If I try to force things I tend to just dry up. Maybe that scrap of an idea will bear fruit in the future. In the meantime they lie like seeds buried in the dark soil.

Untitled, by Elisabeth Grant ***

The search for inspiration
One effect of struggling to write is the need for inspiration becomes apparent. Ideas seldom come in a vacuum. Personal life experience is an important ingredient in the mix. However I am also led to people who are good communicators. If I aspire to write I need to read – widely and deeply. I am thinking not so much of the myriad of things that can be read on phone or tablet. The content often served up and curated by some algorithm. They have their place. However I refer more to the sustained concentration needed to choose, commit to and read a book. The irony that this 6 minute piece is in a medium that is prey to AI bots, search engine optimisation, infinite scrolling etc. is not lost on me! However, as said it has its place.

How and what to read is important. Despite a lifetime’s acquaintance with books I am aware of the need to read more broadly. Recently I came across two different books on the practice and discipline of reading. The former was titled ‘Every Day I Read’. Written by Hwang Bo-reum, a South Korean woman. It was a delightful reminder in 53 short chapters of reasons to read regularly. The choice of author was deliberate. Most books I read are written by men and usually of similar ethnic and cultural background to myself.

The second book was more academic but also practical and challenging. ‘Deep Reading’ was, to me at least, written in an unusual way. The book has three authors – Ooms, Griffis, and De Smith Roberts. All women and professors of English teaching in Christian colleges in the US. For nearly all of the 400+ pages they wrote in the first person plural ‘we’. Surely a monumental act of collaboration in itself. Anyhow, more to the point, the aim of their book is revealed in the subtitle – ‘Practices to Subvert the Vices of Our Distracted, Hostile and Consumeristic Age’.

They made a powerful case that the discipline of ‘deep’ reading transforms you into a more attentive, kinder, tolerant and less transactional person. By all means read about subjects you are naturally drawn to. Yet there are also times to read works whose premise you disagree with. You can learn from books that you have little interest in or are out of your depth. Open yourself to genres you don’t gravitate to. People with a different worldview may teach you something. Sometimes read out loud and also reread some books. Don’t look at ticking off number of books read just for the sake of it. We can ingest books in an unhealthy way. Consumerism doesn’t just affect our life in the material world. Our intellectual and spiritual life can, sadly, be treated as a commodity. The authors contend that if more of us read in these ways the world would be a better place.

Of course reading is only one form of nourishment for the imagination. Listening to podcasts, audiobooks, lectures and radio can be part of the mix.. Discussions over a coffee. Our interior life is enriched by many things. For example I enjoy listening to ‘In Our Time’ podcasts on the BBC. Over 1,000 episodes covering a vast range of subjects from culture, history, philosophy, religion and science. The style is that three experts are quizzed for 45-50 minutes on their expertise. They are chosen not only for their specialist knowledge but also for being good and enthusiastic communicators. Almost any topic no matter how dry or obscure sounding can come alive if those narrating are passionate and engaging. Broadening my learning in such ways helps me appreciate more the wonder of the world and the times we live in.

These are a few things that are part and parcel of my learning to post. No doubt the process changes me more than you, the reader. Knowing however that you have read this makes it all the more enriching, thank you!

NOTES ON COMMENTS
If wishing to be identified, please put your name at end of comment. All approved comments and responses are found at foot of website version of blog.

*** https://elisabethgrantart.com

+++ ‘TOP 100 TAGS’ can be viewed on website sidebar or footer.

35 thoughts on “Writing, and Reading”

  4. Unknown's avatar Anonymous

    thanks Allan -I enjoyed reading that -and have recently been thinking of reading outwith my usual comfort zone -I can imagine needing to be stretched.

    Linda Spencer

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  5. Unknown's avatar Anonymous

    Thanks again, Allan for another engaging read. Your chosen topic is absolutely music to my ears! It is impossible to overstate the value of reading!!! Thanks for the recommendations, and for your discipline in writing in the face of the challenges you describe do honestly.

    Moira Robertson

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  7. Before, I read any books every day. Now, I read any blogs. Different genres make our mind sharper. This is a lovely post, Allan. What name appears here is my name🤩🤭

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  8. What an insightful post! You aren’t alone. I think writers describe different phenomena as “block,” but the bottom line is that words are not finding their way to the page. Carry with you my sincere best wishes for some of those unfinished stories to find inspiration and make their way to the finish line. Above all, keep safe!

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  10. I totally agree that everyone should read as widely as possible and on as many subjects as possible. I still struggle to do this sometimes, but it is a work in progress!
    My trouble is that I have too many books to read and not enough time to read them in!

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  12. Love the site! I blog about the New York Mets, mets-madness.com feel free to check out my blog, this link is the correct one if you scroll all the way down on my blog you can subscribe, can you please follow mine too? Let’s help each other grow!  -Mikayla Scotlynd Littrell, MetsMadness.

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  13. As a veteran blogger, I have to admit that blogging, content and the reader’s concentration span have changed. But the core group, the ones who do find the spark in ordinary life remain.

    Why?

    Because for them blogging is about connection and engagement in an independent forum unfettered by geographical limits. That is why I am still here after 16 years.

    Cheers, from Amanda in Australia

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  14. Writing is like a journey. Sometimes you’re all gung-ho on moving and doing. Other times, it feels like you lost direction and don’t know where to go, so you stop. Maybe for a while, or maybe longer. But even if not moving, the mind is still being filled with thoughts and ideas, even if you think they’re not making sense or some just won’t care about them. Still, write. There’ll be a time when those words will be eager to be release.😊
    Vilia Amertil

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  15. Thank you for this honest reflection on your 97th post. I really related to the struggle between ordinary days and the need to write something meaningful, and the tension around vulnerability. Your thoughts on deep reading versus algorithmic scrolling are especially timely and encouraging.
    Loved the “seeds buried in the dark soil” image. Keep going — your authentic voice is worth it.
    Grateful reader

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  16. I like your section on the personal–Not wanting to appear vulnerable. I walk the personal but not private line in my blog, and mostly it feels right, but one never fully knows how it is received. Keep writing my friend. That is the important part!

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  18. Great points. I’m one of those multi-genre, multi-ethnic readers myself, after first discovering the classical Greek and Roman literature, then Russian literature, then Japanese and Latin fiction, as well as African and early African-American literature.

    I now segregate my bookshelves alphabetically, first by sections (e.g., English, Russian, Japanese, Classical Greek/Latin, Spanish, African, Black-American), then alphabetically by author – within those sections.

    My first major Russian novel was “The Gulag Archipelago” by Solzhenitsyn. That got me hooked. Then I was introduced to Japanese fiction with “The Wind Up Bird Chronicle” (Murakami).

    After that, I was fascinated by discovering these authors from around the globe who’ve been strong literary voices for those cultures in the same way we have our own literary heroes at home.

    The other thing I’ve started doing, to get that deeper dive, more immersive read, is to buy physical copies of the book and practice deliberate marginalia descriptions of sentences and paragraphs that I love and why I love them.

    As a reader, I might choose a different way of immersion. But as a reader/writer, I find this method of writing, in the same words as the author, while also writing my own words to describe it, help me absorb the authors words, and structural techniques, broadening my own writing muscle-memory in the way one would any sport.

    Thanks for getting my brain kick-started today. Great thoughts.

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      1. I’m a voracious reader most of the time, unless I’m knee deep in a manuscript. Which means I’m reading one book at a time instead of two or three.

        But I only began writing marginalia in books about 2 years ago, when another writer I admire shared his technique with me on self-improvement as a writer. I started doing it and it has helped considerably.

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