.. try going to sleep with a mosquito in the room..
J.M. Straczynski (JMS) wrote in his book “Becoming a writer, staying a writer” that most beginning writers fear their message, writings or musings are not worthwhile publishing as it has ‘all been done before’. Indeed, love, hate, technocracy, war and famine, and let’s not forget politics, it all has been written about before. What does make the difference, he argues, is the fact that all of these experiences change in light of the individual’s perception combined with the Zeitgeist in which they live. When properly conveyed, it is this ever-changing perspective that will always make the writing experience unique, like the bouquet of newly opened bottle of wine.
The reason for me to buy _and_ read the book was that I, as I am sure many others, writers and non-writers, have struggled (and still to this day) with the lack of trust in their writing (or was it writhing?) skills. It results from a disbelief in one’s capability, and combined with the inherent need to succeed, when endeavoring on this unique experience about to be created, it will inevitably result in failure. Perhaps, as with many other aspects of life, it is best to send the ego for a looooong rest under an oak tree nearby before engaging with the Creative Flow, or, as JMS puts it, following ‘the Muze’. This is not to say that if your grain of inspiration is lost in the desert, you should throw in the towel for the day. When this happens, and it happens to everyone, you proceed as per below (see Stephen King’s quote).
A craft like ours is honed by constant exposure. In other words, if you want to be a writer, be sure you keep writing. I guess it does apply to any other profession as well? What was that old saying again: ‘Practice makes perfect’? So, if you want to be a <insert profession>, go forth and keep on <insert a “continuously tensed” profession>.
This last give-away illustrates what I love about writing: the inappropriate derivation of existing words in order to obnoxiously fit them in the sentence in the context I want to explore. Eye turning, mouth gasping and vile cursing aside, it’s an itch I need to scratch for the sake of sanity.. And this also happens to be something that JMS mentioned: writers write, not because they love it, well that too, but there is this sort of indefinite itch that won’t be subdued by even ‘professional scratching’, like for instance a permanently lice-infected dog is well-accustomed to..
Anyway I could go on and on, raving about this book and how it is packed with tons of practical advice, but.. I will not (well I guess I’m just a tease, aren’t I?). That would take the joy away of reading it: Even if you are not aspiring to become (or stay) a writer, it’s full of wit, interesting trivia, hilarious internal dialogue snippets as well as tips that could suit anyone well on their path, whatever that path may be..