The Homeostasis Of Writing

Life is all about balance. It revolves around the principle of homeostasis: the regulation of variables so that internal conditions remain stable.

Writing is but a subset of my world, but homeostasis certainly applies.

Some background is probably hugely valuable right now - otherwise you might think I have well and truly lost my mind in my extended absence from the pages of this blog.

Just over a year ago, I had an epiphany of sorts. Suffice it to say that I made the conscious decision to become a better writer and to refine my writing skills. When I researched the writing practices of many of the great writers of our era, I found that they all said virtually the same thing: you need to write every day.

On November 20th, 2014, I started on my daily writing adventure, accruing at least 500 words per day. I am now well over 400 consecutive days and 320,000 words. My daily writing time has proved to be a time that I look forward to every day, a time to reflect and compile thoughts, both personal and professional. With that has come an improvement in my ability to put ideas into sentences, and to do so succinctly and, hopefully, eloquently.

The downside, however, is that when you spend your time writing, you don’t spend your time editing. There’s a problem here. It’s that thing called homeostasis.

There has to be a balance between the writing and the editing. This is much like human physiology, a homeostatic process gone awry. My secretory vesicles are producing copious quantities of writing hormone, but there has been no feedback “editing and sharing” loop to balance it out.

Part of the charm and power of writing comes from sharing it with the world, in some form or another. Our words have the potential to resonate, and even if that is with just one other kindred spirit, then it was worth the effort. However, it can’t resonate if it isn’t available for public consumption. If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If words are written yet never shared, can they ever resonate?

Everything in life demands balance, and writing is no exception. Writing is great - but if you’re not editing, refining, and ultimately sharing the gift with someone, then it’s not serving as full and vibrant a role as it could potentially serve. Writing gives us the capacity to share, and editing (and publishing) does exactly that. Isn’t sharing our gifts something unique that we can offer the world?

As you can tell, however, I’ve not done a good job of sharing recently; the pages of this blog have been, admittedly, lacking.

To all of you who have been supportive readers over the years - my apologies for the silence. I’m alive and kicking. It’s just time to put the editor’s hat back on, hit the “publish” key, and balance out this writing homeostasis. There’s lots of stuff percolating over here as you can probably imagine. There always is.

Truth be told, I’ve missed you all. So here’s to an exciting 2016 ahead, to resonance, and to changing the world - one word at a time.

Photo credits: abesselink

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