Writing is alchemy.
You take the base metals of thought.
Those raw, clunky nuggets of feeling, idea, and observation and through the weirdest, most mystical process, you turn them into something golden.
Words.
And words?
Words are power. They’re not just squiggly lines on a page or glowing glyphs on a screen.
Words move people.
They ignite a fire in the mind.
They punch hearts, twist guts, and, yes, sometimes, gently cradle the soul.
Writing isn’t just a skill. It’s a form of sorcery.
It’s the closest thing we have to real magic, and I’m not saying that lightly.
You can use writing to whisk someone away into a fantasy world where dragons breathe fire and heroes carry swords carved from the bones of dead gods.
You can use it to make someone cry over the heartbreak of a character who never even existed.
You can use it to explain how to bake a loaf of sourdough bread or how to build a life that feels meaningful. Hell, you can use it to convince someone to buy an air fryer or a self-help book or a ticket to an indie film they didn’t know they needed until you dangled the right combination of words in front of them.
Think about it this way…
Words make people do things.
They’re the spark. The catalyst. They can make people feel something so deeply that they act on it. They donate to charity. They quit their soul-sucking job. They call their mom. They fall in love with a character or a story or sometimes, if you’ve done your job right a better version of themselves.
And isn’t that what alchemy is? Transformation. Turning one thing into another.
Writing does that. Writing makes impossible connections. It takes one person’s experience, one person’s voice, and sends it out like a flare into the dark. And someone else, someone miles or continents or centuries away, sees it. Feels it. Gets it. Writing bridges gaps.
It’s empathy in action.
The only thing about writing and writing well?
That takes practice. It takes effort. It’s not just about knowing where to put the commas or how to structure a sentence (though, hey, those things help)
It’s about learning how to make people feel. It’s about learning how to bend words until they sing, so that they sting, so that they stick.
And everyone everyone should learn how to do it.
Not because we all need to write novels or screenplays or Instagram captions that make people weep (though, hey, those are all worthy goals too)
But because writing is connection. Writing is persuasion. Writing is the way you make your voice heard.
You want to build a business? Learn to write well.
You want to argue for change? Learn to write well.
You want to tell your story so that someone else feels less alone?
Learn to write well.
Good writing is clarity. It’s confidence. It’s compassion.
Scrawl something messy and weird and raw in the margins of your notebook.
Write badly. Write boldly. Write until you figure out how to make someone feel something.
Because when you do? That’s when the magic happens.
That’s when you turn words into gold.
Stephen Walker
P.S. The squirrels have been rather quiet lately. Probably learning something new…
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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom