Thread: The Pen Is Mightier

The Pen is Mightier

I hate Common Tasks; they force me out of my comfort zone. I am perfectly willing to write about a ridiculous subject in a rigid structure using two quotes per paragraph. That’s only a challenge, not worthy of hate. What I hate, is being forced through prompts to share my written thoughts, through a dissimilar voice, to read my work aloud to other people. I will not convey myself to others with my speaking voice. That timid voice is one I do not treasure. To treasure that voice would be like admiring the vibration a reed makes when blown on a clarinet, instead of the clear notes that form a sweet melodious song. The voice I relish is the voice I use to write with. It is the voice I use when I don’t care who, if anyone, reads my words or what they think of them, or when I use words like modicum and myriad even though a little and a lot would suffice. With it I can express myself unhindered by the frailty of my verbal self.

When required to read my own written thoughts as speeches, I stumble over the words like a first grader. The very thoughts that created the words seem alien me. I stutter and change words like malevolence to evil simply because I do not use them when talking in tedious everyday conversation. With my written voice, thoughts flow through my pen like silk, every thought and syllable as clear as the ringing of a church bell in the early morning. I feel at home writing it is as if my pen is simply an extension of my mind. This is the voice that I use to express my inner thoughts and feelings, I can be truly honest and open in writing.

I will never be recognized by my writing voice however, the dictionary classifies a voice as, “The sound produced by the vocal organs of a vertebrate, especially a human.” Society places far more importance on the far less eloquent spoken voice than on the written voice. Mothers everywhere record their children’s first spoken word, but I can’t think of anyone that has recorded their child’s first written word. It seems a shame to restrict the identity of a person by classifying them with their spoken words, when written words are more reflective of our true thoughts. Society, logic, and plain common sense tell me my voice shall forever represent me as the same stuttering self-conscious girl, but I would rather go on speaking in the voice that I know to be mine, my true voice that only shows up on paper. Webster’s be damned.

sorry, but i don't get the point of this... have no idea what you mean by 'common tasks' or who would be forcing you to do them and the other things you seem to be complaining about here...

while i can relate to the love of writing and it being preferred by some over speaking, i'm afraid i'm at a loss as to why the writer would be 'forced' to read her/his work as speeches... or why that would be undesirable...

most writers i know [including me] wouldn't mind reading their own work and indeed might prefer to, rather than have others do so, since only we know best how it should be read... and we don't normally use language in our writing that we wouldn't be comfortable using in conversation [assuming we're talking to reasonably intelligent adults], so, i'm sorry to say i can't understand the premise here...

nonetheless, aside from a minor glitch here and there, the writing is pretty good... but the punchline puzzles me... why damn webster's when you've just gone on and on about how much you enjoy using its contents?

hugs, maia

I don't know...I was just bored one day and decided to write some stuff down.

uh-huh...