Proper Blogging

I've started to pay attention to the blogs of my classmates who actually write about things other than how crushed they are by their advisor's comments or how great they feel when people like their writing. And I've started to feel like a freak. heh.

So I guess it's time for me to write about more serious things here. Thus my last post, which was a rather lame attempt to write about something of substance. In the end, I realized I didn't actually have that much to say about that particular topic. One of the reasons why I've resisted writing about things of substance here is that I have some rather controversial opinions. And I don't consider myself any sort of expert about how to write. I think I'm just lucky to have a good imagination and enough persistence and love of words and stories that I just keep revising until my wacky ideas make some sort of sense.

One thing of substance that I feel good writing about though is how a writer of fiction can make an impact in the world. There are the obvious ways: The sharing and expanding of ideas creates an intellectual ripple across and sometimes even beyond a society. But on a smaller scale, a writer can make a difference by sharing the joy of creation.

Education is important. People raise their standards of living when they get more education. It isn't surprising, then, that those who can't read and write are likely to be poor. Well, recently I volunteered to teach some writing workshops for a literacy organization. My hope is to help people see that they can write their own stories and by giving them that knowledge, help the newly literate overcome the challenges of reading and writing fluently. For those of us lucky enough to have learned to read at a young age, it probably doesn't seem that difficult. But for adults who are just learning to read, it requires endurance.