I wanted the first words I wrote this morning to be this ten minute blog. I wanted that to come before posting classes or even checking and responding to emails. Habits of mind are key. The things you do first in the morning are the things you find the most instant gratification in. I wake up and get a game in. Win or lose it is low-hanging fruit. I need to change that to the blog. Writing, you see, is a way of being. As Din Djarin famously put, “This is the way.”
Writing must become a Way for those who seek to create story. Be it casual or professional, writing requires determination and a particular state of mind in order to get anything out of it. Unlike the morning game of Clash Royale, this is no three minute win or lose proposition. However, if you can sustain at least ten minutes on task, I can promise from experience that you will get something out of it, and that something will likely be both good and a foundation to build upon both through the day and through your life.
Writing can be a way to live out your fantasy in a way games are not. Writing can also be a way to seek understanding of what is happening in your life and in the world around you. I think we can all use a bit more understanding in the present world. For me, writing is a way to connect to the world. I want to be heard. I want to know that what I create will last beyond me. I realize the ego involved in that statement and I don’t care. As I said: This is the Way. I believe that I am not alone in that either. Anyone who takes the time and effort to raise kids is leaving a legacy all the same.
Yet the point of writing is more immediate. Writing is an exorcism. Writing is a rationalization. Writing is an escape. Writing is a lodestone. Writing is all of these things and more and the way you know what writing is to you is to write it down and find out what your voice has to say.