Talking Just to Talk (and why that Matters!)

I’m sure, if you’re the type to click into random blogs, you’ve seen many instances of “word vomit” on a page; you’ll read some sort of body paragraph lacking any substance towards any definable goal before clicking off and shaking your head at the wasted time. Maybe you’ll even leave kudos as an A-for-effort type encouragement. But, I’d like to argue that saying anything at all (even if it is just word vomit about things you like, which I do as well) has value, and should be shared (with discretion).

I’ve always thought there’s a special meaning placed onto being the first person to say something. When I was a kid, I’d frequently say strings of awkward sentences, proud of myself that I was assuredly the first person to ever say those words in that order. Or, even now, I’m proud to share my thoughts as I think of them. Like this: “Wow, this strawberry smoothie I just bought from my college’s market is tasty, but I keep getting brain freeze like no other. Maybe the sink water I watched them put in my drink actually had an effect.” 

But further than the meaning of being the first person to say something, there's meaning to meaning what you say. When someone is passionate enough about something to open up google docs and get to typing, I’d encourage them to do so. Be it a fanfic, a blog post, an essay, a journal, whatever, I’m very much in favor of anyone writing anything.

I took writing for granted for a very long time. I think, at some point, writing anything became associated with schoolwork. I couldn’t enjoy writing because any time I opened my computer to type, I’d be reminded of the evaluations on everything I’d written. I used to write fanfictions for fun (I was a kid on the internet- sue me?) and even when I sat down a while back to hopefully get back into the groove, something was missing. Any passion for putting words on paper was gone. I couldn’t even word vomit and care for what was on the screen.

I don’t know how it came back to me, maybe it was in that blog post from about 6 months ago where I randomly decided to drop a life update in a hyper stylized writing format. Jumping right into “I started college !!!! it is so crazy… I am a film major for realzies now😨😨😰😰 no changing my mind…(jk I could but that’s a lot of extra effort).! I have made so many cool friends here and it's been so fun to be living on my own 4 a while >.<” when I had not seriously picked up a pencil to write in years was, albeit, a little funny. Also funny to look back on; I do not write like that. 

But, word vomit of an update aside, it was enough to make me realize there was something to be had in a blog. Even if it was just dedicated to silly updates about my life. In my blog life updat2, I say “woah!!! since my last blog post I went on a DATE!! that was crazy and also really fun because I was rlly into her ٩(^‿^)۶ I think (pretty sure…)(pretty confident…) she likes me back (*´∀`)♪ so life is pretty awesome rn!” A silly update indeed (and, if you’re curious, it didn’t work out. Oh well!) but one that started directing me towards value in my writing. I realized it is, really, just for fun. The perceived value of my work isn’t that I’m particularly adding anything to the world, but rather that I’m starting to love the act of sharing my writing. Which, in itself, is something to celebrate.

Anyway, long way to say there’s value in word vomit. Word vomit means someone cared enough to write, and that means they cared at all. And honestly, in the age of AI, I’d rather read 10 pages of word vomit from the soul than one soulless AI paper (seriously, I’m so tired of peer reviewing AI work. Yes, we can tell, and I know damn well some of the people I’m grading don’t know what half of the words on their page mean. I caught you crossfaded in a parking lot and suddenly you’re writing about “embarking into the virtuoso of subcultures.” give me a break). 

Blah blah, hate AI, blah blah, word vomit good. The end. I guess. Thanks for reading. Or not. Maybe you just skimmed to the end. Thanks for that too. Farewell ;)