Write what you want to know?

Write what you know.
-Mark Twain

I often wonder if Twain should have said: write what you want to know.  The more I do this awakening thing, the less I realize I know but the more I want to...not conceptually ...but "really".

I think of this quote I heard today (somewhat paraphrased) :
Wisdom cannot be gained by accumulating heaps of knowledge but by looking clearly and deeply at what is.
Br Phap Hai (accents should be applied :( ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBv0pWcDYug

When I write I seek wisdom.  I go inward to my present moment experience and look at that.

What Writers write About

I had the opportunity to speak to a "real" writer, the other day...someone who has established himself as a  national icon...someone I greatly admire and respect for his ability as a writer and his humility as a human being. He "sees" the human experience in a way so few do. For the longest time I stood back and avoided him basically because I never wanted him to find out I wrote because what I did with words  felt so "puny" in comparison to what he did.  How could I call myself a writer in his presence? (I do not have a tendency to call myself a writer anyway...I usually just say "I write a bit.")

Well during a conversation D. brought up that I write and  praised me up and down.  I thought I would turn permanently purple with embarrassment  but after a discussion and a kind offer to view one of my manuscripts to see if he could help me out...this established, acclaimed  and prolific writer  offered some great insights into the writing experience. He began by quoting something relevant from Othello ( one of the few Shakespeare plays I have never read...and I read and studied a lot in my day...and to which I just nodded my head like a plastic bobble head "pretending" that I did lol).  Then he went on to say that each writer will consistently write about three major things.  These things/themes will appear in all their writing regardless if it is fiction, non fiction or poetry.

Writing About What We Know

That struck me and got me thinking.  What three things do I write about consistently? Can you guess lol?

• the human experience of suffering-the mind?
• waking up to what is?
• creativity...writing/photography/poetry?

Writing about What We Want to Know

Hmmm! This is what I tend to write about in these blog entries, in my articles, my books and my poetry.  I could sit here and say I am going to write about the feeding habits of the guinea pig but somehow...it would come back to one of these three subjects/themes lol .  It is like I am programmed to write about these things because they are things I passionately want to learn more about.  I definitely do not know everything there is to know about them but I am writing so I can.

Anyway...thought that was interesting.

Will I allow him to see my manuscript?  My first reaction was definitely not...I would hate to burden him with yet another manuscript to read when he is probably asked to read, critique and endorse so many. Nor do I think I could handle the thought of him viewing anything I have done so far...have to get a bit better first :) .  If the novel I am working on now is near perfection after the third or forth or 1104th draft...maybe then lol?  It just gives me hope knowing there is someone out there that is willing to help should I be brave enough to accept it.

All is well.