In the article titled, Writing as Self-Revelation, there were some interesting points raised by the article's author, Luella Cook. Penned over 60 years ago, the author speaks about the idea of how we share and communicate - particularly in the private and public space. While Ms. Cook was approaching this from an academic perspective, I think there were two point that resonated with me and made me think about how we choose to communicate in today's connected/electronic world. Her points also made me consider how we, as writers, develop our own unique voice.
Toward the bottom of page 252 she writes, "In writing, on the other hand, we are alone with ourselves - or can be - in a kind of private world, where there are fewer pressures to determine what we shall say or how we shall say it." I think it's very important that, as a writer, we revel in these moments of solitude, for it is these times where we are able to explore, experiment, develop and find our voice. Also in these private moments we contemplate, reflect, and consider the words we choose and how we choose to pen those words. It is in these private spaces where we are able to find our public voice that we share with readers.
On the following page she continues, "All of us are extremely wary when it comes to sharing our inner most thoughts with others..." There is a lot of truth in that statement when we know who is reading it and what we are sharing. I think that privately most (if not all) of us would be willing to write our inner most thoughts if we knew that those thoughts would never see the light of day or if we could redact the parts that would shape how others see and think of us. However, if there were the slightest chance of someone seeing our inner-most thoughts, I think that most (if not all) of us would self-edit. We would restrict the exploration of our voice. When we write to a public space those ideas of what we share and how openly we share things is (largely) an inverse-relationship to how private we keep our identity.
I agree with your that most(?)/some of us self-edit everything we say or write which prohibits us from really saying what we think. I wonder if or how these things might be connected to the ideas of being intro/extroverted. Your post made me think about some of these things.
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