Writing for My Reader

Writing to a prompt, i simply focus on a word or phrase and let my pen scribble down what i am thinking or saying to myself as quickly as i can make the pen move over the paper. No editing. No second guessing. Simply gushing and letting the spillage go where it will. I am often amazed at what i then read on paper. Who wrote that? Me?

And then, after a while, i return to those pieces of gushed intensity which resonate after a pause. Because invariably they make broad leaps in logic that only i could follow because of my own experience. I know what i meant, but no one else would have any way of understanding. I am writing for my reader now. Choosing vocabulary that will be comfortable for my expected audience. Explaining and giving examples for clarity. Rewording to bring out the humorous or unexpected, if appropriate. Checking for spelling and grammar errors that would imply i had no respect for my reader's intelligence.

Because of these two varied processes of doing my work, the resulting piece is quite different in form, but carries the insight or inspiration that first made me spill my thoughts onto the paper. It is now a piece that will show my respect for the person who has graciously taken the time to read my writing and, hopefully, to gain something from it.