Writing For Writing's Sake. Maybe.

RAPACIOUS RODENTS & OTHER STORIES.


I have always wondered why we write.

I write my blog as a sort of therapy…. To keep me sane in the middle of the rat race that sometimes seems almost like a treadmill gone crazy.

Another friend of mine, Dominic, who blogs beautifully does it to make sense (or try to make sense at least) of the female race and all their inherent complexities and 3 decades on, he is still trying.

Some others write to relax.

But whatever your intention, the basic aim should be to communicate.

The worst are writers who write to show-off. Not communicate or make sense, just show-off.
They are often pompous and write with the sole agenda of showing off their knowledge of big words in every sentence which makes reading their posts seem like going through a thesaurus.

In the UAE we have a magazine called 'Friday' which comes (surprise, surprise) every Friday and is edited by a lady who seems to revel in nonsensical verbal calisthenics.

Now did the last part of my own last sentence (above) make much sense? See my point?



A few weeks back she was writing about an old abandoned shed in her grandfather’s house, which as a child, she and her cousins used to use as a playhouse. I am guessing that she was trying to go the way of nostalgia with that piece but her language was more attuned towards bragging.

“the slits disenchanted the rapacious rodents and other creatures from aspiring to non-stop nibbles and the three doors allowed for faster transfer of the goods by the farm hands”

My old English teacher always told us one simple rule of writing.
“A sentence should have just six words and each word not bigger than six letters”


“If you can’t say it simply,” he’d bark at us “its probably not worth saying at all.”


Now I myself have not been able to stick to his advice at all times but I have tried (hopefully) to stay true to his other suggestion.

“Always Make Sense.”

Am I?

Making sense I mean. And do you agree?

Tell me

Till then

Ciao & Luv As Usual

Vish