A friend of mine once asked “How come everything you write is so dark?” I said they weren’t completely dark, you just had to see the light between the words. Which is true in all writing. There is intent and there is interpretation. What did I mean? What did you read?

We spend our whole lives relying on pitch and tone of voice. Body language. Eye movement. The emotion of the moment. The physical presentation of a thought or an idea. Unfortunately those skills are irrelevant when two strangers try to communicate through written words only.

The internet has provided a portal of communication to millions of writers and readers who are so inclined. Some of the more adventurous set up video cams to communicate but I’m not ready yet to give up those private moments of picking my nose and scratching my butt as needed.

In the end most of us settle for writing poems or stories or even chat. I don’t do much of any of those. I’m most comfortable in the dark. I’m at my best when barely seen. I once described myself as a troll, but I think troglodyte would be closer. A troglodyte who writes. Now there’s a vision.

Life experiences set a background and basis for all of our writing. My own were heavily weighted from the beginning. It’s the struggles to overcome and learn from those life experiences that give flavor to our words. No one is pure vanilla.

One thing I do know is that the hardest lessons learned come with the greatest pain. I also know that pain is just a state of mind and you have to rise above it. How we do that determines our character and our integrity. It also sets the bar for survival as a carbon based lifeform.

Most of us have a base. Some move from light to the dark. Others such as myself move from dark to the light. Yet there are some who walk that fine border between both in perfect balance and precision. They don’t write.

It is our imperfections that force us to balance. Anyone can walk down a sidewalk. There is much more focus in walking a tightrope. Swaying; balance; counterbalance; always eyes forward; never at your feet.

Our writing is a part of that process. I would think the counterbalance part. A release valve that sends jets of pressure streaming from our brains to our fingers turning thoughts into words and back into thoughts again on a screen. I call it my surge. A tsunami of thoughts and emotions that have no place to go but out.

We all walk that tightrope. So in response to my friend’s question “How come everything you write is so dark?” I reply “How come everything you write is so light?” What are you hiding?