Writing is not a spare-time activity

The theologian Scot McKnight offers some wise words about writing on his blog (here). In brief, he explains why it is impossible to treat writing as something that can be done ‘on the side’. Of course, he is writing as an academic theologian for other theologians and academics, but I think his comments hold true for other kinds of writing. As he says,

writing is a lifestyle, a way of life, a way of being, a modus operandi, a way of breathing and eating and drinking. Better yet, writing is a way of learning, a way of coming to know what someone wants to know, a way of discovering.

Writing is not something to do when everything else is cleared off the desk; no, it is something that makes order of the desk. I don’t get up wondering what I will write about, but I write about what I’m wondering. … In other words, as Augustine spoke of ‘faith seeking understanding,’ so writing is a pen seeking understanding.

This reminds me of Rowan Williams’s comments on writing as self-discovery, which I blogged about here.