Every day I sit down in front of the computer and wonder why. Why do I write? Why are all these people living in my head? Why is the story on the page different from the one in my head? Why do I bother? Why can't I stop?
And then I smile as the words start to flow out from under my fingertips and I wrap words into sentences that are twisted into pages of paragraphs. Getting it down, then crafting it into something publishable makes my heart sing. And I know that all the whys are just sneaky little doubts trying to stop me from doing what I love.
I don't think of my writing as a path to rich and famous. Getting paid for what I love to do would be nice but fame is a fleeting thing and not worth striving for. For me, writing is about telling a story, about finding that hidden voice inside of me that needs to speak out in ways that I never could. And in a roundabout way, giving a voice to people like me who are afraid to open up and invite the world into their lives and dreams. We're the wallflowers who sit in the corner and listen and observe so we can go home at the end of the day and weave our tales of lived lives and battered dreams and fairytale endings.
And our quote today is from Daphne DuMaurier:
"Writing a book is like a purge; at the end of it one is empty...like a dry shell on the beach, waiting for the tide to come in again."
5 comments:
Boy, I just said much this same thing on Lisa Kenney's blog. It must a function of our age that we can't seriously believe in fortune or fame but only in finding the perfect word, the best sentence, the decent story.
What's that they say about great minds? After spending a lifetime making ends meet you realize that striking it rich is pretty much a pipe dream and not nearly as important as family and friends.
I agree. I will never be a Stephen King making millions off my stories. However, I get immense satisfaction finishing a story. A few minutes later I get restless and the process begins again... I love the Daphne DuMaurier quote.
I write because I have a story to tell. The only thing that's important to me is getting the inner concept across to the reader so they are entertained and become aware there is beauty in the world if they only look.
Fortune in writing? Only if the lepracaun decides its your turn. Todate I haven't seen any pots of gold just sitting there under the rainbow.
I think making the big bucks in writing is just like hitting the lottery. Nobody knows what will be a hit, so all a writer can do is write the best book or story that's inside of them and hope to get published. The rest is just gravy.
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