I am a writer by trade. Currently Content & Communications Specialist at Narrative Marketing, I am passionate about the written word. In fact, I always have been.
When I was 13, I had a go at writing a book. An excerpt was published in UK teen magazine, Bliss. As a teenager, I wrote poetry. As soon as I was able, I was blogging and writing for off and online publications.
When YouTube created vloggers, I wasn’t interested. I mean, I was, but only in a keeping up-to-date with current trends kind of way. When video dominated Facebook’s algorithm and Facebook Live was launched, I was entertained by the likes of JP Sears and comedians Foils, Arms and Hog who took advantage of the medium, but I wasn’t tempted to communicate that way myself.
I like written words and sentences. They are simple, beautiful and everlasting.
Language has probably been around for hundreds of thousands of years. But writing is much younger, only a few thousand years old.
Brad Pitt played Achilles in the movie Troy, which was based on Homer’s Iliad.
The ancient poet Homer is thought to have lived sometime between the 12th and 8th centuries BC. While epics like The Odyssey and The Iliad are legendary (and bastardised by movie-makers), they are only known to us because somebody at some point wrote them down.
Oral tradition can only go so far. It’s fragile, like a whisper. And video is dependent on technology to bring it to life.
Writing however, is tangible. It’s a survivor. It lives painted or scratched onto walls and ornaments, stitched in clothing and upholstery, squirrelled away in tombs and towers. Long after the writers are dead, their legacy remains intact.
(Assuming it’s well hidden and looked after, of course.)
History and culture is preserved through writing. Diaries, religious texts, novels, graffiti and gravestones tell us about the people that came before us. Plato, Aristotle, Heroditus, Venerable Bede and so many other writers have given us a context in which we can exist. Perhaps even an identity.
If Hurricane Ophelia leaves no trace, writing will survive.
So I want to say thank you to all the writers, the inventors of the paper trail. It’s because of you that we can remind America, which models itself on ancient Rome, that homosexuality was not out of the ordinary in the ancient world. (So why do you want it to be a sackable offence, Trump?)
It’s because of writers that we have democracy. Born in Classical Athens, it lives on today in many enlightened countries around the world.
Without writing, the world’s first website would never have gone live; our modern, digital and social communications would not exist.
And when the apocalypse comes, we will live on in writing.
That’s why, not only will I never give up writing, I will be its champion throughout the evolution of digital communications. From emojis to Snapchat, Skype to podcasts, I will remain first and foremost a writer.
Do you love writing? Where do you see the role of writing in today’s digital world? I’d love to hear from you in the comments. And I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who disagree with me - I’d love to hear from you too!