Writing is the only appropriate form of expression for me

Franz Kafka in his letter to Felice Bauer, August 20, 1913

“Talking is altogether against my nature. Whatever I may say is wrong, in my sense. For me, speech robs everything I say of its seriousness and importance. To me it seems impossible that it should be otherwise, since speech is continuously influenced by a thousand external factors and a thousand external constraints. Hence, I am silent not only from necessity, but likewise from conviction. Writing is the only appropriate form of expression for me, and will continue to be so even when we are together.”

How many of you are better at writing than speaking?

I’m most definitely more comfortable and more proficient when I communicate through the written word. Whenever I have something important to say to someone, I write a letter (or email), even if we live in the same house.

I know most of my introverted writerly friends are the same. That’s why when I read this passage last night in Kafka’s Letters to Felice, I had to share it. He wrote this to warn his future wife what it would be like to live with a writer!

How do you prefer to communicate?

Do you live with a person who will write to you instead of sitting down and having a talk?

What about those who are both talkers and writers?