I wrote the following piece a while back. At the time I was getting frustrated with my writing; specifically an article that I have been working on and had re-written countless times. Why was I stuck in a rut? What was this piece missing? I wrote this to empty my brain:
I didn’t write this for you. I wrote it for me.
Years of ink and lead laden personal therapy sessions.
My writing isn’t perfect. Much of it isn’t even good. But every time I read what I’ve written, I go back to that moment of sadness, joy, frustration or anger that I had when I originally wrote the piece. I’ve heard it said that there is a power in telling secrets. Taking power from someone who hurt you and putting it literally in your own hands.
I believe that writing can be a way to tell someone you love them. It can educate and infuriate. Written words have born heroes and toppled empires. Writing can take you away; really it can take you wherever you want to go.
I can write a book. I can write a book about myself and my life. It will likely not be award winning or even go mainstream. It may not even get seen by anyone but my friends and family. But I will still have done it. I will have achieved a lifetime goal. I am not a literary genius, I am not a knowledgeable professor, I am not a master poet. What I am is determined and 100% sure that writing and reading can change lives. Be it the writers or the readers. Being able to relate to others is essential, and emotionally valuable. Being honest is as well. Being able to put myself and my writing out there for people to see makes me venerable. It opens the door for criticism, opinions, judgment and disappointment. It also opens the door for success, joy, optimism and freedom. If I never do it, I will never know who I could have been or whose lives I could have touched. If no one ever reads a thing I have ever written, the words will still exist. I will still exist. The things that I’ve written will still have value and power; even if only to my self.
To anyone who is fearful of having their work in the public eye, I will say this: It’s not about being perfect. It’s not about creating literary classics or historically important work. It’s about the freedom. It’s about the pride and about the creative process. Not your place on the best sellers list or whose name is on the book spine next to yours.
After I wrote this I realized what it was that my article was missing: me. The piece was supposed to be about a troublesome time in my life, a struggle I went through. But I was writing it the way I thought it would get published; not the way I experienced it.
There is certainly a time and place for removing yourself from something that you are writing; perhaps text books or reference material, historical novels, etc. However, if you are writing about something that moves you, get moved. If you do that, if you keep the emotion and the personality in your work, your readers will get moved too.
Just a thought.
