Write what you know? Where's the growth in that?

It is an interesting exercise to write from an unfamiliar point of view. So often, we're told and taught to write what we know. Well, if we were only write that with which we are intimately familiar, I doubt many of us would have more than a couple books in us, no matter how interesting we believe our lives to be.

Currently, I'm writing a novel and the primary POV belongs to a blind woman in her 70s. I, for those who do not know, am not a blind woman in my 70s. It presents a never-ending series of challenges and questions. Virtually every paragraph forces me to pause and wonder about everything from sleepwear to suicide, from a POV no less foreign to me than that of some far-out sentient alien creature.

The process of writing from an unfamiliar POV, by its very nature, forces the writer to be thoughtful. Considerate in an older sense of the word. It is a different type of effort, just as when other artists stretch themselves. A comedian takes on a serious dramatic role or a portraitist goes completely abstract or a country singer jumps into rock 'n' roll.

While we're not always successful, the fear of taking a risk is hardly reason enough to stick to writing what we know, and the cliche, if followed, denies us a potential growth experience.