A writer is essentially typing blank pages – shouting out spells in the dark – until the words are read by you, and the magic explodes into your head and no one else’s.
Doing Words makes the magic explode in your head. With the help of Times' columnist, Caitlin Moran.
Spending time with her is one of the highlights of my weekend. There I am, sitting at her kitchen table, possibly even sharing a bowl of pasta and a bottle of wine. When I get up to leave, though, it’s the ideas she’s shared that make my day; new ways of looking that are energising, poking and provoking.
Given that we are not actually besties and I don’t live just round the corner, how does Caitlin Moran gift me all this? Well, as a best-selling author, regular on the Times and - no wonder – Columnist of the Year, she writes, dear reader. That’s how she gets into my head: she writes.
In a recent column, Moran wrote about reading. “It’s not a passive act. A reader is not a simple consumer.” It’s a piece of writing that’s stuffed with quotable quotes, and happens to be on a subject where I already share her passion. The point about Caitlin Moran's writing is, that whatever her topic, she commutes your leafing-through, vaguely curious gaze into the gold of devouring her every word, dot and comma. See – it’s worked. Here I am, shouting out loud – If you don’t already, you’ve got to read this woman!
What’s the point of writing anything if you don’t aim to touch the heart and fire the emotions?
So hers is the thinking that gives me heart most Monday mornings. Business writing may not be poetry; it may not be anywhere close to the calibre of the 59 books Caitlin is setting out to read as a Bailey Prize judge. But, bearing in mind her point that reading is not an act of consumption, but one of creation, and asking, what’s the point of writing anything if you don’t aim to touch the heart and fire the emotions, then why shouldn’t marketing communications enrich lives and at least attempt a little detonation? So as usual, I’m with Caitlin. And as usual, Caitlin absolutely nails it.
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For more on business writing that reaches out to real people, go to www.doingwords.co.uk
Contact Kaye Coleman-Rooney at Doing Words, Cambridge on 01223 655290
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