An
author client of the public relations firm that I work for said he believes we
are spirits seeking to live a human experience, rather than humans seeking to
live a spiritual life. That presents an
interesting debate, but it sparked another thought: Are we, as authors, seeking to live a human
experience or humans trying to be writers?
To
be a writer seems to mean we sacrifice a piece of ourselves. We run many risks
when we speak our minds, uncover truths, debunk myths, or raise questions
against authorities. From death, torture, and jail to job-loss and community
ostracization, the open and exploring writer is challenged to write freely
without retaliation, to let his or her mind wander where others dare not go.
Why do we practice the art of writing if it offers so many pitfalls, -- not to
mention professional rejection?
A
writer doesn’t choose his craft – it chooses him. We are born writers, based on our upbringing,
intelligence, skills, and perhaps our souls. A writer is not like being a truck
driver, an IT specialist, a business owner or any other professional short of
clergy. It seems like the writer is
destined to practice her art, to be the one that takes a probing look at life, and comes to not only report her findings but to help us see things differently
from how they are. A writer is a
state-of-mind thing. A writer doesn’t just write -- he or she seeks to fix the
world with words.
For
a writer, the action of life comes in his head and the playground of the
imagination. For him, the theater of life is run through a thousand different
scenarios on paper, but he is too damaged to live out any one scenario for
real. He sees and feels but is challenged
to actually experience. It’s as if the doing of life gets in the way of writing
about it.
We
look at priests and wonder how they can be dedicated to a life of celibacy but
the writer too is celibant on many levels.
He immerses his life into writing, not fully living out whatever the
world has to offer. More voyeur than
connoisseur, the writer tastes life from the sidelines.
The
writer guesses what life could be like, even extrapolates what life should be
like, but rarely delves into it with firsthand experiences. It’s not that the
writer stays home all day and night and just fantasizes about the world. No, in fact many writers live active lives
and get thrust into all kinds of dramas. But their real living comes from the
things that they can’t do but can't do and only dream of. But they feel alive when
interviewing others, observing activities, or uncovering truths from research and
analysis.
Do
writers seek to live a human existence – or are humans trying to be
writers? We’ll never be able to
objectively know the answer, but writers will continue to experience humanity
first by writing, and then by doing. To
write is to truly live.
RECENT STORIES
Do
writers know the truth?
Would you buy book insurance?
Have you surveyed your readers?
Google This: Book Thieves Earn Supreme Court Win
Are Any Stories Foreign To Us?
We Need A Reading Bee, Not Just A Spelling Bee
Twitter Racks Up Losses
2016 Book Marketing & Book Publicity Toolkit
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.