Seeing the World as Forever New

(Photo Credit Link: Toasty Ken)

To a reader, the world is forever new.

As stated in one of the books I’ve read before, “… a new book is one he or she has not read before - even though the author may be long dead.”¹ I’ve read that line countless of times when I was studying the book, Writing for Children and Teenagers, by Lee Wyndham and Arnold Madison, which was part of the materials I’ve got for my course at The Institute of Children’s Literature in Connecticut a few years back.

While that holds true for readers, I’ve realized that it also speaks of the writer’s experiences with each piece he or she would work on - be it an article, a poem, a song, or a story.

Through the years, I’ve noticed that no matter how extensive one’s writing and editing experience is, I often find myself in a whole new ball game, in a different world, every time I start writing and working on a piece.

It’s like I’m always back at where I started: A novice. An apprentice.

While that may seem highly unappealing to most, it actually serves a great purpose: It helps me see a new world that I can shape and grow with some of my real-life experiences and writer’s imagination.

As I work on the piece, that different and enticing world gradually becomes an article, a poem, a song or a story before my eyes that I couldn’t wait to share it with others, with this inner grateful awareness that it would also be forever new to those who would read it.

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You may also want to read:

Writing: The Mistakes You Often Don’t See

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1 Wyndham, Lee. Rev. by Madison, Arnold. Writing for Children and Teenagers. Writer’s Digest Books. Cincinnati, Ohio. 1989. Chp.1, Page 4