The Grasshopper Sunday Edition: Writing as Therapy

Writing should be a healthy activity

Photo by Wonderlane on Unsplash

My daily writing on topics like politics, climate, and global current events has a potential downside in that these topics can generate anger, frustration, and fear, if I let them. That goes for both myself as the writer and for readers. These are hot button issues, but I don’t let them own me, most of the time.

If I did, writing would not be the positive thing in my life that it is. I have a penchant for cynicism that I try to keep in check, which can be a challenge, especially when dealing with US politics. 

For me, keeping this in check is a form of writing as therapy. I try to be relatively calm most of the time in my approach, though some topics like hate and division get me worked up or sad at the state of things. I wouldn’t be human if they didn’t.

I write observations and opinions, not journalism or cheerleading for a cause. To effectively express an opinion about a touchy topic is a bit of an art form. I’m not really interested in igniting the ramblings of trolls, but in offering openings for different ways to view an issue. It’s a balancing act but when I get it right I find readers who share some of my views. And some who do not, but who are civil about their disagreements.

Only rarely do I get threats, violent insults, or other negative and hateful responses, which tells me that I’m getting something right or the platforms I write on don’t attract those angry people. If I do run into them in a comment, I simply block them. Part of my therapy is to not engage with anger, in my writing or in person. 

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I could keep a journal, but

I don’t and there is a good reason. One, introspection is not my thing. When I meditate, for example, introspection is not the goal. The goal is to observe the workings of the mind and learn to not take them too seriously. So almost everything I write is written for public consumption, to be read by strangers who may become reader friends.

A lot of them have joined this newsletter, which is very gratifying and great positive feedback because my numbers don’t seem to be shrinking. Substack has a setting that keeps you from being notified when a subscriber decides to opt out. It’s optional but I leave it on. Otherwise I run the risk of taking it personally when someone leaves, for whatever reason.

It’s really not my business unless I see a major reader exodus, in which case I’d want to figure out what I’m doing that isn’t working. When I’m not writing rants, which I occasionally do, I view my work as an ongoing conversation with my readers.

Unlike in person conversations, where we all are learning to be careful around certain topics, readers get to choose to participate by reading, or not, or commenting. It’s an interesting dynamic that didn’t really exist before the current version of the internet. I find it fascinating.

One of the fascinating things about writing for an audience is the need to calibrate the voice you use. Writers I follow typically have developed a voice of their own. It might be righteous indignation, cynicism, or other overly obvious stylings, though, as a reader, those can get tiresome. So I try to write with my normal voice, one on one.

This newsletter is much more of a personal conversation than my political stuff, by intent. Those political articles may have a short lifetime because they are time/topical. My writing about writing here is intended to be a little more evergreen. You should be able to look back through back issues of The Grasshopper and still find value. 

One of the reasons you read me harping on the importance of publishing your stuff is it forces you to think through these kinds of issues, like voice, relevance, value, etc. from the perspective of others. And that, in turn, will help you improve as a writer. Despite having written professionally for many years,  writing and publishing nearly daily has made me a much better writer.

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As always, thank you for subscribing and reading. Having survived Thanksgiving weekend, I am going into healthy mode rather than the usual holiday partying. See you on Wednesday! M