Realisation of the Day

It doesn’t really matter how awquward sounding or grammatically incorrect or misspelled your words are so long as you’re saying something good with them.

By good I mean that it comes from the heart and it expresses something that is life affirming.

An example of something that is immaculately edited so that all the letters line up properly is Strange Weather by Joe Hill. I finished reading it last week and I gotta say that that I’m not happy at letting that book into my head. In short, it’s a depressing read that foists the idea that life is twisted and uncomfortable onto an unsuspecting reader. It’s written right but it’s not life affirming.

And example of something that awquward sounding and yet life affirming is the debut album of Mumford & Sons: Sigh No More. I listened to it this morning and I was torn. The musicians are really into the job and are good at playing their stuff. The singer is sincere and he twangs the heart-strings with his fragile sounding honesty and heartfelt delivery. But here’s the thing: his lyrics are awquward and twisted into shapes that people don’t normally use. But here’s the other thing: that album won award after award and sold by the bucket-load all around the world.

So, yeah – don’t bother about how awquward and stilted you sound when you talk; don’t bother about your writing style being gauche and downright pitiful from the point-of-view of a language professor; and don’t bother if you say um and ah at every turn of your sentence – just make sure that you’re saying something that’ll help someone else or yourself feel better about themselves and you’re set.

Right – write!