El artificio de la escritura / The artifice of writing


domingo, 24 de febrero de 2008

Breaking the Silence

This Blog has been inactive for some time, as I have been incapable of writing in it while I was considering the reasons for keeping a blog. Today I am not in a reasonable mood and I have decided to return to posting a comment for anyone or nobody to read and ponder. Excessive reasoning tends to curtail action and since writing is an action, after all, my having doubts about the usefulness and value of keeping a blog kept me from writing anything on it. I had to remind me that, to begin with, I had started the blog as a way to express openly my musings about writing and the reasons or passions that make it possible and necessary. That I was to write about my doubts about the sanity of having a blog.


I have to admit that I have not looked at many blogs as I should if I intend to talk about the subject. But, in spite of this I have enough information about what blogs do and represent. Some are clearly very serious sites for discussion of important issues affecting us as members of society. Others seem to be quite the opposite--superficial pages of little value. In between there are those practical blogs devoted to special interests or groups that although they are of little interest for most people, they serve a purpose for a limited number of users.

My blog would like to belong to the first group, but really is much nearer to the third one and. It tends to deal with the capricious and very personal concerns and interest of only one person.

So be it.



1 comentario:

Anónimo dijo...

My dear friend:

Seems like you're being a bit harsh on yourself, aren't you?

To begin with, the action of writing should be a discipline which needs to be exercised on a daily basis. It's not enough to simply wish for our thoughts to materialize in written text on a computer monitor or on a sheet of paper. Also, writing should be fun, it should get the creative juices flowing and ultimately, we should derive great satisfaction in its production. Let's not forget, that sometimes the chores of our everyday existence, do not allow us to take the time we'd like to enjoy the writing, so we must do what we can, when we can.

The privilege of keeping a blog, is the symbol of one of the ultimate constitutional freedoms we still enjoy in this country, so I say, let's keep it going, no matter how long it takes to get inspired in writing something to publish in it. We can't be so naive and think of ourselves as writing machines on demand, that can churn out endless sentences about some subject, and feel the obligation of writing just because there is a blog and therefore we should fill it continually with something, otherwise we'll feel guilty about not doing it. No, absolutely not! That's the wrong reason to either have a blog or to write anything in it.

Your blog most definitely belongs to the "first group" you mentioned, as it touches on "important issues affecting us as members of society". I consider myself a member of society, and as you see, your blog has made a difference in me, it has made me react.

And now, I'd like to invite you to participate in your comments about the Witte Museum's exhibit of the human body, found in the Escritores SAT blog.

See you there, and in the meanwhile, keep a stiff upper lip.

André