Writing is Math For the Soul

In talking with a friend the other day I made an interesting observation that I stated as fact. Does anyone else ever have that happen to them? You're just having a conversation and state something that you knew you knew but you never consciously decided to know? I know I'm confusing but I was just curious. :) Anyway, my friend was talking about a troubled time she was having in her life and how she kept having the impression to write things out. Being a writer, I totally understand the feeling and the literal need to physically write. But I know why it works for me, I'm a writer and it's my reflex outlet. At the same time, for those who aren't writers, I still think it's a valid platform to sort through problems. And what's more, I think I know why.

Math used to drive me insane (it still does if I pay it too much mind). When it did, I would just start writing the problem out bigger, I'd make my scratch paper so sloppy as I scrawled across it determined to move forward with the problem. With no one watching (which is key), I'd doodle, trace, and scribble as much as needed until I'd conquered the thing. Once the battle was won, looking at that destroyed paper would give me a strange satisfaction that I can't achieve any other way. :)

I think the same principle can be applied to writing. There is a strange power in physically writing. The paper isn't watching you, it doesn't care at what speed you're going, it doesn't care how you write, it doesn't care what you're saying. It's only there to be used so you can see your thoughts spread clearly before you. It gives your thoughts someplace to be besides the inside of your head. (Where they bounce around like a legion of enraged ping-pong balls.) In short, I think writing is a math problem for your soul. All you have to do is keep writing until you've solved it.

"I sat in a cafe, I drank coffee, and I wrote nonsense in a journal. 

And then, somehow, it was not nonsense."

~Sabrina 1995

Yours truly,
Cordy