The other day a friend of mine asked me to go with him to commiserate with another friend I hadn’t seen in a while. She had just gone through a rough time. Later that evening, he remarked that he was surprised I’d had so little to say. When I told him I didn’t have the words to express my thoughts, he said “But you’re a WRITER! How do you not have the words?”
Well, that’s just it. I’m a writer, not a speaker. Where and whenever possible, my default form of communication is a written form, be it snail mail, e-mail, instant message or text message. We will conveniently ignore the fact that my job, a technical writer of sorts, is about 75% dependent on verbal interaction. I mean, we all know that silly little rhyme we learned as children is a bold-faced lie.
Well, that’s just it. I’m a writer, not a speaker. Where and whenever possible, my default form of communication is a written form, be it snail mail, e-mail, instant message or text message. We will conveniently ignore the fact that my job, a technical writer of sorts, is about 75% dependent on verbal interaction. I mean, we all know that silly little rhyme we learned as children is a bold-faced lie.
Sticks and stones
may break my bones,
but words
will never harm me.
may break my bones,
but words
will never harm me.
Many people are still wounded and hurting from words that were uttered thoughtlessly many years ago.
Some of the things I like best about writing:
Some of the things I like best about writing:
- I have time to organize my thoughts. I don’t have to “think before I speak” while people are checking their phones for the latest hockey scores, waiting for pearls of wisdom to drop from my lips;