C. Day Lewis Quote on Writing and How We Write To Understand; Not To Share What We Already Know

“I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my mind. If it were clear in my mind, I should have no incentive or need to write about it… We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.”

C. Day Lewis, The Poetic Image, via Sunbeams (Page 15)

Beyond the Quote (385/365)

It starts out as a feeling. An inquisition. A hunch. A curiosity. A reoccurring thought. An observation. An idea. A single line of text.

It proceeds as an exploration into the unknown. A navigating of unclear roads. A charting of unexplored territory. An unraveling of knotted up mental yarn. A sorting through of an unorganized desk. As trains of thought.

It’s finished when a destination has been reached. When a point is made. When a curiosity has been satisfied. When the thought has been explored. When the mental yarn has been untangled. When the territory has been charted. When the last period is typed and the publish action is taken.

Writing is not what happens after you know what you want to say; it’s the very means through which you figure out what you want to say. Creating doesn’t happen when the creation is clear; the creation becomes clear through the act of creating.

The point isn’t to have it all figured out so that you can begin; the point is to begin so that you can figure it all out. The sign to begin isn’t a detailed image, a clear-cut path, or a completed manifesto; the sign to begin is but a small yearning that nudges you to head in a particular direction.

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Read Next: Seth Godin Quote on Learning and How School Can Get In The Way Of Our Education (Day 384)

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