01330: About the Power of Words

Words are tricky things. They can be amazingly full of being beyond the brushstrokes that define its shape. And yet they can be shallow, hollow things that are easily cast off like leaves blown away by a gust of win. This dichotomy is but one of the many reasons they hold so much sway and power in this life.

As a writer, even if but an unpublished one, I've always felt that my words are the most precious gift that I can give. I always do my best to write honestly, freely and true. As much as my mind defines the words, they're only trying to capture what is in my heart. And that's always a tricky thing - writing from the heart. Words can be both boon and bane after all.

I've always found it funny when people would be somewhat thankful when I'd mention them in a blog or incorporate them as a character in one of my stories. That somehow the act of including them - of capturing a small aspect of them in words was a special thing and something worth being grateful for. I don't claim to be a particularly good writer - just a passionate one and an honest one. That's what makes me, me. And this is why I write so much in different blogs and why I do my best to find time for my fiction while at the same time being afraid of what I might produce. Such is the burden of any writer, of any wordsmith who dares to capture the power of words and steer them onto a page in the form of ones choosing.

But words are limited, too. They can only do so much. Words are often just letters - rough shapes that attempt to capture worlds of meaning between their lines, curves and swirls. When you see a word like RED, those three letters are only a rough approximation of what RED really means. They are a marker, a trigger in our brains that tells us to think of red and our brains do the rest. That's part of their magic.

And no matter how good a writer you think you are or how skilled a wordsmith that you consider yourself to be, you will never fully control them. In fact the more you know about words, the more it seems that you understand their limitations. 

And thus no one - especially no writer - is immune from those moments when words just seem to fail you and you're unable to capture in words what you truly want to say. Your tongue feels like it's tied in knots and the letters remain jumbled in your head, unable to escape. And in these moments you are humbled and reminded that you do not ever truly control the words. 

In fact, you are but a servant to this particular muse. This is something every writer should remember and take to heart. It keeps us grounded. It keeps us focused. 

And ultimately, it keeps us human.