I`IV`MMXI

"Writing is a social act. It's communal; shared. You're all validated here. You're all writers, congratulations. But to sit behind your computer typing away with the intention of keeping it all to yourself while claiming to be a solitary creative genius is irresponsible. You are responsible to your writing. You are responsible for how you are received. Think of your reader as someone who has never met you. Although you are writing for you before anyone else, you are still writing for someone else."*-- My verse instructor, Will, said this today, (rapidly alongside exaggerated hand gestures).

{which is funny, because I wrote this down in its entirety in my notebook so I could share it}

This is something I've only thought about marginally and momentarily. But after he preached about it for a good half hour, it stuck with me all day. Because it made sense: Why write it down otherwise? Why claim to be a writer? Why write creatively at all? There has to be some subconscious desire to share the things that are being made tangible. A private paper journal will eventually be read by another. Either you'll forget it on the bus (as I have many times), or your snaky room mate will dig it out from under your mattress after you leave to return the late Blockbuster movies, or will inevitably be thumbed through after your funeral by your cousin Jo-Jo. I tend to throw everything out there I create for people to consume and have only taken minimal caution or responsibility for what I was presenting. Which is to say, my purpose has always been fairly self-centered; a search for validation rather than a sheer act of sharing. The finished product has the potential to be something entirely more charged, refined and purposeful if the writer removes their self from their self and fully acknowledges the audience while hashing it out. If you know how to do this, please teach me how.

Which I suppose can be applied to every day life. Your social life, your work life, your love life. Be mindful. Be purposeful. Be considerate.

This in turn brings me to what my American Lit prof said "You can take corn and either make Fritos or polenta."

Resolution no. 2 for 2011: Make polenta from here on out.

*sliiiightly paraphrased.