You may have heard me snigger a little derisively when someone says, “Write what you know.” That’s because I’ve always been a big fan of the “Learn what you want to write about.” school of thought.
I mean, what I know is boring, or it used to be when I first started writing. I knew one room schools and life on the farm and that seemed pretty dull.
So I wrote about things I didn’t really know about, but I found out about them, gathered info as I needed it.
It’s called research …
If we wrote what we knew, we wouldn’t need to do research, we’d already know what we were writing about.
Now if you’re going to say that if we can research it that means someone else has already written about it, well, you’d be right. But you haven’t written about it yet, so we’re missing your perspective.
So my point?
I’m saying write what you know or can find out about, but consider that the question that was asked when the answer of “Write what you know.” was given was, “What should I write about?”
And when you think about that question, you realize that the answer of “Write what you know.” is actually dodging the question.
The correct answer is, “Write what inspires you.” So then the question becomes, “Where do I find inspiration?”
Cue the natural beauty
I have the perfect answer to that. Here. Right here in this majestic country that is, as luck would have it, celebrating its birthday on this very day.
Here in Canada, we have so many sources of inspiration. We have a thin, broad base of amazing people who were here for thousands of years before we named this place. Talk to them.
They can tell you subtle things that bring amazing revelations, they can inspire.
Cue the beavers
And then there is our countries proud history filled with ways with which we identify ourselves, our maple leaf, our rugged landscape, our resilience in the face of hard times.
We are distinctly our own people, we apologize, we laugh at ourselves as much as we laugh at others, we understand each other in the deep and subtle ways that only the word “eh” can describe.
We are our own inspirations and that shows in the breadth of the writing that comes from this country.
Cue the green light
And our borders have been opened to varying degrees and we have prospered from that. Canadians are what we always have been, citizens of the world and from the world.
And while we are distinctly our own people it is not because of any inward focus on inbred qualities, but rather the willingness to learn and share, and the willingness to embed the best of any culture in the fabric of our nation.
There is nothing good in this world that isn’t now Canadian, save that which we have yet to assimilate into our culture. And that again inspires us.
Moose Cue
We are funny. We are tenacious. We are open minded for the most part when it comes to our culture. And we, the ones who write and paint and perform, are the ones who proclaim and echo our culture on the world stage.
As a writer, today, I tell you it is now the time to unfurl that crimson leaf, strike up the band and call for our national anthem, set light to the fuses of the fireworks, take out your note pad and pen and turn to your neighbour and say quietly as the last wisps of inky smoke drift through the dark sky echoing with the last notes of O’ Canada, and smile, and say,
“Inspire me … eh?”
