Did you hear about the segment on the television show “The View” with Danny DeVito? It’s all the buzz in the news today. Guess Danny D. had a little too much to drink with his pal, Actor George Clooney the night before and was drunk when he was on the show as a guest in the morning. Seems he talked, and talked, and talked. Now he’s in the apologizing phase. The “talk too much now apologize” cycle is getting to be old hat with celebrities, elected officials and other public figures.
Why did Danny DeVito’s mouth get him into trouble? Well, simply, he talked too much. A great thing about being a writer is that you don’t have to talk so much. You can use your time putting your thoughts on paper. Then you have an opportunity to look at your writing and think about it before you let it go public. You even have the chance to erase (tear up, delete) all of the writing without letting anyone ever see it.
You can write anything you want in private as you practice your writing. Write about your thoughts on the President and the Iraq war. Write about why you’re angry with Congress or another politician. It’s all up to you.
I think you’ll find that you feel so much better afterwards. You get your opinion off your chest. Putting it on paper makes it real and alive so it doesn’t bother you as much anymore. Yet, after venting in written words, you probably won’t have to vent in spoken words.
Don’t do what Danny D. did. Instead of talking out loud, write in silence. Take 20 minutes and write about something you feel strongly about in the news today.