I am not the greatest writer you will ever read, and instead of reading me, you would probably rather be doing something else. But even with the time constraints in medical school, I have been doing my best to improve my writing, and to make sure I write more consistently. To be able to write well, you see, you need to be willing to read widely. Widely means diverse genres, something that, sincerely speaking, I chide a little; which perhaps is to be expected because as Alan Jacobs has it in his book,The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction, quoting W. H. Auden:
Auden doesn’t want us to scorn “trash” but rather to enjoy more and more of what is good. However, he also realizes that nobody’s taste will ever be all-embracing: therefore he has one category for the recognizably good work that you hope someday to enjoy, but also this: “I can see this is good but I don’t like it.” Just that, because no matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to enjoy everything that is worthy of praise. Nor should you try too hard to achieve such catholicity. In a book review Auden once commented, “No critic will ever amount to much who does not start with strong personal preferences and end by transcending them so that he can see the good in works which are not really his ‘dish.’ A narrow taste is a bad taste, but a catholic taste which is not arrived at through a process of self-conquest is no taste at all.”
For Auden, the robust reader does not begin with complete openness but rather with “strong personal preferences”: we do well to be rather narrow in our likes at the outset, but to recognize such narrowness as a trait that in the long term becomes a vice.
(The emphasis is mine) In Bird by Bird, an important writer's handbook, Anne Lammot reminds us that we learn to write well so that we can read well, and reading pays greater dividends. I would love to be able to write well so that I can read well, and then be able to write well. You see how it works?
As I really hope that my writing would be more accessible, one of the things I would love to do is buy a domain name. What is a domain name? Simply put, it is the name used to access a website, madagahenry.com for example. To be able to have a domain name, I also need to upgrade my site which currently has the free domain name: madagahenry50.wixsite.com/litnerd-letters; a mouthful, right? I believe a straight-forward domain favors the algorithm and makes the site more accessible. The site upgrade and domain name requires that I pay for a full year, or two years at a discount. I would really love to be able to do that. I am asking for your kind support. Or better still, it would be exciting if you could become a member on my buy me a coffee page and support me on a regular basis. I also run a Substack concurrently, and there you can also make a pledge to support me, but only if you love my writing. I have not yet activated payments, so you may get to support me perhaps after a year or two. I encourage and appreciate your pledges, but supporting me right-away by buying me a coffee doesn't sound like a bad idea, does it?
I know my writing makes the world a better place, it makes some people better people, or at least it makes them want to be better people. Personally, and more importantly, writing makes me a better person, it allows me to speak to people I never get the opportunity of interacting with. It also keeps me from indulging my whims and myself in sensuality, it gives me some control of myself, and I really feel the world needs me sane. It is not especially easy to be able to write in medical school. At times there seems to be other more important texts to be read and some clinical work to be done, but I wouldn't want to give up my writing, or even write much less because of it. In fact I want to be able to do more writing with every passing day, I hope to be able to get myself down to write as much as I can.
I am appealing to your good will for financial support. With your support you will make it easier for me to write more. So kindly buy me a coffee to keep me awake and to keep me going. Or buy me a book. May God bless you if you do, but please don't feel as if you have to. If it's a little difficult to support me through my buy me a coffee page, you can reach me via email: [email protected], or you can always do so directly through m-pesa; my contact is +254799653537.
Stay lit.
Truly,
Henry Madaga (MDG)