Since I've started writing more again, I've been getting a lot of personal emails from friends and friends of friends who say they admire what I write but could never do it themselves. It astounds me that the attitude of so many is that they just "can't" do something without trying.
Here's a shocker for you: I'm not a Pulitzer prize winner. I don't write professionally. 80% of the regular readers are here for the knitting and crocheting patterns, not for the writing.
Heck, by the reader numbers, I doubt most people even see a lot of the columns I write. But I think that its important to keep writing as often as I can and when I feel I have something to say. Why? Because of things like this. I doubt this poor child thought that her diary was anything other than a outlet for her frustrations and dreams in the time she wrote it, and now its a historical gem, teaching people about child labor in the factories. Or this. Or this. Or this.
It was just their life. Not prize winning literature, not the best writing ever, just...life.
When I think about today, so many things are fleeting. Technology is changing life faster than anyone could have imagined years ago. Just last week we were saying how no one will have seen a phone with a cord on it anymore, as cordless phones (if one still has a landline) and mobile phones are status quo now just about everywhere. The joys of being able to stretch the long cord into a bathroom, closet, or nook to get some privacy are something that children today will not feel. Even an elegantly worded letter has went from paper to fax to email to 140 character tweets. Its hard to wax poetic about a bundle of tweets, but hey, I'm old fashioned.
My point? Just write and share your experience with the world. It doesn't matter what your viewpoint, your IQ, your writing ability, or your writing experience is. Just start somewhere, and do it regularly. Many authors participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers Month) in November because it forces them into a daily spout of creativity and the goal is to have a novel finished in exactly one month. It may sound daunting but I know many people who start there or go participate in it to give them a firm deadline to force the creativity out of their head.
Today I give thanks for the ability to share my experience with the world, no matter how few people read it. The important thing is that I did it.
Here's a shocker for you: I'm not a Pulitzer prize winner. I don't write professionally. 80% of the regular readers are here for the knitting and crocheting patterns, not for the writing.
Heck, by the reader numbers, I doubt most people even see a lot of the columns I write. But I think that its important to keep writing as often as I can and when I feel I have something to say. Why? Because of things like this. I doubt this poor child thought that her diary was anything other than a outlet for her frustrations and dreams in the time she wrote it, and now its a historical gem, teaching people about child labor in the factories. Or this. Or this. Or this.
It was just their life. Not prize winning literature, not the best writing ever, just...life.
When I think about today, so many things are fleeting. Technology is changing life faster than anyone could have imagined years ago. Just last week we were saying how no one will have seen a phone with a cord on it anymore, as cordless phones (if one still has a landline) and mobile phones are status quo now just about everywhere. The joys of being able to stretch the long cord into a bathroom, closet, or nook to get some privacy are something that children today will not feel. Even an elegantly worded letter has went from paper to fax to email to 140 character tweets. Its hard to wax poetic about a bundle of tweets, but hey, I'm old fashioned.
My point? Just write and share your experience with the world. It doesn't matter what your viewpoint, your IQ, your writing ability, or your writing experience is. Just start somewhere, and do it regularly. Many authors participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers Month) in November because it forces them into a daily spout of creativity and the goal is to have a novel finished in exactly one month. It may sound daunting but I know many people who start there or go participate in it to give them a firm deadline to force the creativity out of their head.
Today I give thanks for the ability to share my experience with the world, no matter how few people read it. The important thing is that I did it.
No comments:
Post a Comment