| September 6, 1999 Too I agree with what Zinsser said completely. I knew many people in my high school English class who would use lots of big words and try to sound like they found all kinds of complex meanings in their reading and writing. But honestly, most of the time these people never really knew what they were talking about. One girl in particular would ramble on, never getting to a succinct point and thoroughly confusing her listeners as she struggled to reach a scholarly conclusion. It's the side of being "too spiritual;" people who appear to be "too smart" in order to cover up their lack of knowledge or understanding. Then I knew another girl who was actually very smart, and at least knew the definitions of the huge words she used. But the tone in her writing didn't match the tone she used around people, in her daily life. Even those who didn't know her would read her writings and say she sounded fake, like she was trying "too hard." She was indeed. Somewhere she had heard complex sentences with very large words, assumed it was intelligent, and done her best to imitate that tone. I used to do it too. I still fall into the trap of writing only for me and not thinking about my audience. Sometimes I think my voice is a little "too personal;" I tend to draw people into my life, to show them pieces of me, perhaps in ways that would be better left out of my writing. Writing has always been a method of therapy for me, a way for me to express in written word the things my mouth can never say. Why do young schoolgirls write notes to each other at lunch when they could talk to each other? Because they feel it too; writing can sometimes say what we cannot say aloud. The pen has a way of drawing out a person's inner thoughts. Writing gives me the chance to put words together in an eloquent way that I honestly could never do in an impromptu speech. Though my writing may not always be the most correct and greatest example of good writing, it is always an expression of myself. If I search carefully, I can find my heart in my writing; it's not hiding, it's just written between the lines. |