SHOULD I REALLY TRY TO BE A WRITER?
When a dear friend (who shall remain nameless) found the old Ernest Hemingway quote, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed,” she told me that she was done bleeding. “I’ll never be a Hemingway,” she groaned into the telephone. “I’ll never be anybody.” WOW…such drama!
Of course, I had to throw two of my favorite quotes back at her. The first is, “You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” This wisdom came from author Ray Bradbury (Zen in the Art of Writing). The second is from poet Robert Frost who certainly understood where my friend was at the moment: “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” THEN my friend and I began our almost-yearly litany of WHY she is not really trying to be a writer—she IS one!
Here are some of the main points of that conversation. I hope it will encourage you.
- Writing is not a boring occupation! It is exciting! When you’re sitting at that computer, you’re involved (personally) in an adventure that nobody else is experiencing!
- Writing stretches your imagination and creativity. Placing those words together—no matter what genre you’re writing in or what the topic might be—writing is possibly the best brain exercise on earth!
- Writing is PLAYTIME! It lets you don the costumes of many characters and walk in their boots—in the mud—in the snow—to the top of every mountain without physical stress or strain.
- Writing makes you almost immortal. Because we know that every written word in all of history has not been preserved to this very moment, we cannot speak in absolutes here. However, the oldest literature (dated by library science folks) dates from 2600 BC, during the early Bronze Age. So, what my friend is writing today has an excellent chance of surviving for a very long time.
- Your readers will love you! I reminded her of our brief visit with author, William E. Barrett. Even though he had become “famous” in his own time, he was humbly amazed by the people who sent him things, offered to buy his meals at restaurants and not only asked his advice about writing, but about “life.” Yes, readers will always appreciate excellent writing.
So now my friend has three writing projects going! And, she’s made the decision to self-publish all three! “I’m too old to wait around for some publisher to discover my manuscript in their pile,” she recently told me. Of course, that decision excites me a LOT. I know just the self-publishing team to introduce her to!
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ABOUT ROYALENE DOYLE: Royalene Doyle is a Ghostwriter with Outskirts Press, bringing more than 35 years of writing experience to authors who need “just a little assistance” with completing their writing projects. She has worked with both experienced and fledgling writers helping complete projects in multiple genres. When a writer brings the passion they have for their work and combines it with Royalene’s passion to see the finished project in print, books are published and the writer’s legacy is passed forward. |
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