A leading neurologist, on the subject of brain exercise, highlighted the one thing that most people can do is handwrite. Something about the process of thinking, writing, and handwriting words that fires neurons and keeps them healthy.
I started to enjoy writing during the advanced US History course that I took in High School. It was such an effective medium of self expression! The course work of history inspired a lot of interpretation of what meanings were held in the significant stories of the past. Naturally being a passionate fellow, I loved the ability of putting my thoughts on paper. We wrote a lot of essays and the teacher read them!
I was hooked. I wanted to learn more about it and improve at it. I don't know of any better way to share my thoughts and ideas without commercial interruption. The art of conveying thought in words requires vocabulary, grammar, and spelling. And there are so many other techniques to the organization, presentation, and creation of a reader friendly format.
Applying myself to college writing classes helped a lot. I also found opportunities to practice the written art in every workplace that I encountered.
My first employment after college required my active participation in written communication. I excelled at it and became the default person to go to with information for the daily log. That had immediate returns, because I was green and the piling of information on me brought me up to speed faster. I took greater interest in all of the goings on so my report would be legitimate. I would plan the organization of the day in my head as it went along, and put it into a helpful format for the next shift's benefit.
I wanted people to want to read my reports. I tried to keep the log as short and fact filled as possible, but I would add a random bit of humor just to keep everybody interested. They never knew where the comedy would occur, so they'd read the whole thing just for the daily laugh.
Those periods of employment that I had superiors whom were awake, interested, and sober, would have them search me out to ask questions. The single skill of written communication offered me many new and exciting opportunities.
A common re- occurring opportunity was an offer into a management position. That kind of move never interested me. In my field, there were tech oriented people and there were people oriented people. It's very rare that a person was both, and I was not that rare individual. I was alway technically motivated and shied away from people dominant positions. If I was to have a leadership role, I preferred it to be unofficial and try to lead by example.
I was getting paid well to write back then, but why do I still do it? Mostly due to the need for self expression. I often think that it would be nice to have an audience for my writing. But, I'm sure that is not my main motivation. I am sure that I have enlightening and fascinating stories to tell, but I'm not sure who my audience will be.
I've never had much interest in reading fiction. On my bookshelf, the non-fiction outnumbers the fiction 10:1. So I don't expect that I will dwell much in writing fiction. It seems that the main stream audience of this time is chiefly interested in entertainment. Those who read non-fiction are the minority. Maybe that's because non-fiction hasn't been presented in an exciting way? It has ALL of the potential.
I've decided to keep on writing for my own selfish benefit. I'm still organizing thoughts in my head as the day goes on and putting ideas on paper. I still have a dictionary close at hand to expand my vocabulary and improve my spelling. I still re-read my own writing, sometimes editing when I can think of clarifying or re-stating an idea in a better way. If nothing else, It's great calisthentics for the brain!
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