Everyday Canvas

Outside My Comfort Zone

Prompt: Much ado is made about stretching the brain and reading and writing outside our comfort zone. Do you think this is helpful? How much fun is it for you to read and write outside your usual genres or your comfort zone?

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Anything I did that I enjoyed the most in my life I did outside my comfort zone. I can swear to that.

I can’t say that the same goes 100% for my reading and writing, especially reading even though I read just about everything. For example, I never liked the dry and cut police-procedural type of novels, but because I kept hearing about Tana French so much, I gave her a try. Now, I am reading everything she has written, as I pointed out in another entry, and enjoying myself immensely.

What I usually like to read is what they put in the literary genre as booksellers and book-sites online do, stuff that makes me think goes deep into the character without skimping on the plot and other elements, in a simple yet almost poetic prose. Sure enough, such books are heavy in length and not many readers have that kind of patience, but this is just fine with me. In fact, in Amazon and other book reviewing sites, many readers comment "boooring!" or some such thing to the type of books I end up loving.

Still, when it comes to writing, I like to try everything. Just the trying part is fun and who knows I might learn something from that. This is because by experimenting with different styles, I might also improve my craft. With poetry, one learns to put huge meanings into a tiny amount of words, for example. With non-fiction or just writing prose pieces, I might get good at knitting sentences structurally. With stories, I might come up with stuff loaded with vivid imagery, rich storylines, and stunning characters. (I wish!) So, why not try everything?

The same goes for different genres, even the ones I don’t know much about. Although some say, “Write what you know,” there is such a thing called research isn’t there? Even with the most miserable stuff I’ve written, I probably enjoyed the research of it the most.

From which angle I look at it, choosing to write outside of my comfort zone if just for the practice is beneficial. After that, I can write whatever comes and hope sometime, somewhere some true magic will happen.