words

by Anna Maria Hansen

 
I love writing.

That might seem obvious -- I call myself a writer after all; have written in many different forms; and do so on a daily basis. So yeah, obviously I love writing.

But I'm talking on a far deeper level... I love the feeling of a pen in  my hand, shaping letters. Shapes that transmit feeling from one person to another. 2D doodles that can change a person's mood. I love the subtle power of words and the way a single word can sometimes make you feel something, think something, see something. I collect words; gathering them from different sources. Simple words, extraordinary words, paradoxical words, magnificent words. Then I put them in my invisible box of writing tools and pull them out, one at a time, to explain thoughts I have to other people. So that they can see, feel, smell, hear, be, want, fear, know... what I want them to.

I love that these shapes us humans made up can hold such power. People say, "Paint a picture with words." That's exactly what all writers should be doing. The recognition that words are art. Each shape has meaning that can be transmitted from person to person.

I love when a sentence comes out just the way it should. I love reading a sentence that is so good I mark the page so I can come back and re-read that one sentence again and again. I love words that are put together in such an out-of-the-box fashion that I see them -- and what the writer is saying -- in a completely and utterly different way. That, in a flash of eternity, other people's words can become something of you.

word  (wûrd) 

n. A sound or a combination of sounds, or its representation in writing or printing, that symbolizes and communicates a meaning