Do I write too much?

I was thinking about communication this morning as I was ploughing up and down the pool, trying to avoid the wild splash of men who seem to take up twice as much pool space as us neat and tidy girl swimmers. Why do men do that, I thought. Women can swim up and down, passing each other with plenty of space to spare, aware of our surroundings, courteous to other swimmers, conscious of invading personal body space, and yet put a man in a pool and he becomes a flailing windmill of arms and legs, splashing and crashing, making the most appalling and, to my mind, unnecessary noises, puffing and blowing as if to say 'LOOK AT ME! I'M A BIG, STRONG MANLY MAN SWIMMER IN VERY TIGHT TRUNKS! I DON'T SWIM IN STRAIGHT LINES SO GET USED TO IT AND GET OUT OF MY WAY, WOMAN!'

I thought, when the Baby Bug Grandchild is here, I shall take him/her (still erring towards a 'him') swimming and I shall shout things like 'Oooh, Baby Bug Grandchild, fancy pooping in your nappy like that, in the middle of a swim.' That'll get rumbumptious manly swimmers out of my way.

Anyway, back to thoughts on communication. The process of making ourselves understood has been fore-front in my mind these last few weeks as I have been writing lesson plans for my Adult Ed classes. Teaching adults is different to teaching children, but many of the principles are similar. I have been revisiting old material and study notes from my degree days. I did a unit, you see, on the development and use of the English Language. I thought, being a writer, that it would be interesting to study and explore the origins of our language, how it is learnt and developed, the mechanics of communication, verbal, aural and textual.

And it was. It was scientific but fascinating stuff and I have decided to use some of the elements I learned then as the basis for my lesson tomorrow night which is all about spelling. Things like phonemic awareness, sound, spelling patterns, high frequency words, word families, homophones.

I love the fluidity of language, the organic nature of communication, the way in which, as writers, we can experiment with expression and ignore 'the rules' in order to expand our creativity. That's not to say I'm not irritated by spelling errors, punctuation misdemeanours and grammar glitches when I see them. (And even more irritated when I commit them myself, because I always think I should know better!). There is a place for Standard English, for clear and universal expression, and as a teacher I'll do everything I can to maintain those standards in my students.

But as a writer, there is nothing better than messing around with language because the results reveal the personality within us, the individual that is 'I'.

When I did a creative writing course in 2007(with the Open University), the last assignment was marked against various components e.g style, content, technique. Another component was 'Writer's Voice.' Whilst I scored in the 'Good' mark band for the other elements, I scored 'Excellent' in the Writer's Voice section which was more important to me than anything else as it suggested I had found, or at least touched upon, my unique writing style.

Since then I have enjoyed the fortunate position of being able to concentrate on writing full-time. I have completed two novels for children and am half-way to completing a novel of modern fiction. My voice has developed enormously. I must have written hundreds and hundreds of thousands of words in the last year and a bit, including those that make up this blog.

And now I am wondering, do I write too much? I blog nearly every day. It is a good way to get me in writing mode. I have to think of something different to write for every post. I have to be aware of self-censorship because this is a public document (whereas in the privacy of my notebooks I can write what I bloomin' well like and frequently do!). I look at other blogs I follow and generally people post once or twice a week at most, or maybe even once a month, if that. So do I write too much? Does this blog show that I ought to get out more and engage in real life? Or that perhaps I am a very fast typist??

In order to be a writer I need to write. Therefore, I don't think I can write too much. But as a writer I have to be audience aware. And sometimes the audience might want to shout 'Shut up, Denise, you are doing my head in with all your writing, writing all the time, don't you ever stop with all this incessant writing, aarrghhhhhh!!!'

Or something like that.

Anyway, Thurday is National Poetry Day so on that day I'm going to treat you to a poem wot I wrote.

And feel free to tell me to shut up on days I go on too much. But I can't guarantee I'll do as I'm told. In the words of good old 'Cat in the Hat' man, Dr Suess: 'Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.'