We Do Language“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives." - Toni Morrison As Toni Morrison reminds us, “This is precisely the time when artists go to work—not when everything is fine, but in times of dread. That’s our job….There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.” In the coming era of uncertainty and chaos, words are going to be our superpower. Words are our way of enacting agency in the midst of despair. Whether we’re using words to express, persuade, document, advocate, create beauty, or some combination of the above, our words matter. And our world sorely needs them right now. Writing can be healing, as I wrote in the Harvard Business Review mid-pandemic. On a cultural level as well as a personal one, I believe this to be true. And doing language doesn’t always have to be arduous or overly planned. Once I crawled out from under my bed last month in the wake of the election, it helped to a write a few very short things. One thing led to another and I joined Substack and started experimenting with posts. I distracted myself with building a new website (that last one was so 2020). I found solace in writing copy—a task that, at other times, I’ve found more ho-hum. Writing short things helped me return to writing the longer thing. Quick update: I have new literary representation and I’m excited to report that my third book, a collection of my personal essays, is currently under review at a press I greatly admire. Long or short, let’s do this. Let’s keep stringing words together, just as we put one foot in front of the other. We word on. In dark times, may writing be one of the things that brings light. With love, Deborah Linktree
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