I was talking to a friend yesterday and the conversation turned to music, poetry and emotion. (I know this isn’t the normal way a business blog starts, but I think the point is worth making.) She’s recently started writing poetry and was surprised that she “was actually good at it.” My immediate response was that everyone was good at writing poetry, she shouldn’t be surprised.
As you can probably guess from the fact that I’ve been writing on this little blog for several years, I find writing in any form to be a great outlet for the subconscious. I believe that each of our brains processes and stores important information unbeknownst to our conscious minds that we need to find a way to release into the world. The best outlet for that is to put pen to paper (or keyboard to the digital ether) and let words flow.
The metaphors and stories that spring to mind are those that our subconscious is telling us are important to us. Often they will have emotional connections. Sometimes it’s a reminder of something we need to come back to. Rarely, it’s a message that there is something that needs to be fixed. Ignore these messages at your own risk, our minds know what we need to hear.
Good writing is not about publishing a novel or getting acclaim for your poetry. It’s about putting words to paper that have meaning to you. Sometimes that meaning strikes a chord with others and the thought takes flight. But more often (even for bestselling writers) the words are there for the writer alone. No one else will ever read them, few will ever care about them. But the writing is still good none the less.
This is why so many people keep a diary or journal. The words in those are hardly ever meant for others to see but they have immense value. In the act of writing, people find an outlet for things that matter to them. They are able to express feelings and ideas that they are unable to articulate any other way. Good is internal, not external.