Tuesday 16 July 2013

Metawriting

I've been reading so many really good blogs recently about writing and it makes me a little sad that my blog feels so disjointed.

Trawling back through the archives I've got stuff here about my personal life, then more recently stuff about my job as a technical writer. But very rarely do I write much about writing.

Writing about the art of writing is a strange one. Painters don't draw pictures about what it feels like to have their hands covered in paint. Crafters don't string bracelets together to express their frustration at not having sold more than they have. Are writers the only "meta" artists?

So I'm wondering whether what I want to do is spend more time on the blog talking about writing, wondering whether in doing so I'll become a better writer. Or will it merely give me some false illusion of purpose? Metawriting isn't going to get my next novel written. In the time it takes me to write a decent blog post I could have added a few hundred words to my word count.

But will I gain anything as a writer in exploring these thoughts?

Undecided.