J.K. Rowling recently agreed to hold an interview with Oprah in Edinburgh, Scotland, one of the few times she has done so. In that interview, Rowling said: "This is probably true of all writers, but I believe what I believe because of what I have written. Ultimately, before I wrote it, what did I believe? I probably couldn't have told you." Today is class, my Writing teacher said something similar, that in writing we come to know ourselves. So this blog is about coming to know yourself through writing.
Recently, I experienced this very phenomenon. My French Horn teacher asked me why I played French Horn. She didn't accept the answers I had given her on the spot as the deepest reasons why, so she told me to go home and think about it. Since I enjoy writing, I decided to go about the assignment by keeping a blog journal about it. Every time I had a spare moment, I asked myself "Why Horn?" Whenever I had a thought, I'd write it in this blog, and over the course of five days, I found stuff out about myself through writing. I have never had that happen before, except for possibly journalling in past years, but I didn't recognize it for what it was then. It was a fantastical experience.
I wonder what it is about writing that shows us something new and exciting about ourselves...my personal belief, at least for me, is that my mind is very complicated and confusing. The act of writing something down straightens out my thoughts, makes them coherent. When that happens, I discover things that were hidden in the mess, kind of like cleaning my room. I use this idea everyday, by making lists and writing down reminders. In my house, whenever anyone has any activity or event coming up and they try to tell mom, she says, "Don't tell me, go write it on the calendar." We have a large wall calendar in the main kitchen/dining room where everyone can see it. It's common in our house to hear "go check the calendar" or "go write it on the calendar". If something is not written down, we forget it...it's happened before. I'm the same way now, on my own: if something does not get written down, I forget it. I think there are two metaphors I can make to explain this, so indulge me while I try.
The first one is the analogy of my messy and confused mind. When I think of something, if I don't write it down and straighten things out, it will get lost in the mess of my mind. I may remember that it's there and that it was maybe important, but I don't know where to start looking for it in the mess, kinda like looking for a pair of shoes in the mess of my room...writing things and ideas down help me put them in their proper place, so I can usually find them again.
The second metaphor is that of a bulletin board, and it is necessary because the first allegory is imperfect: often when I put something in its place, I forget where its place is. A bulletin board analogy fixes that. When I right stuff down, and say it, and hear it, the item gets placed on a bulletin board where I will remember to look for it. This technique is also used in my home: above the calendar, we have a white board and a bulletin board. Temporary notices and messages get put on the white board, and important papers and announcements get hung on the bulletin board. Whenever an important paper is missing, mom says "check the bulletin board", and it is usually there. The same thing applies to my mind; when I write stuff down, I organize it, and if it's important, I hang it on a proverbial bulletin board where I can remember to look for it when I'm looking for it. Often, this fake bulletin board becomes a reality when I put sticky notes on my desktop (I love the sticky notes application!)
So, writing helps me organize my mind, helps me discover things that were there all along, but that I didn't know were there. Writing something down also helps me remember it later. I had a French teacher who said "read it, write it, hear it, say it helps you remember it 10 times better" (or something like that). She was right, I remember things better when I write them down and then read them again.
Thank you for joining me as I discovered more unique things about myself!
Special thanks to the Oprah Winfrey Show, which is where the J.K. Rowling quote came from.
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