I want you to think up some great writers. I mean, some of the really good ones. Some of the ones that have honestly earned their acclaim, and not just gotten it thanks to hype and having the right backers... even if yes, even for really, really good writers, sometimes it's having someone in your corner that gets you noticed at first. Getting published can and does take more time and effort than writing and editing a story into a book, even if you do a full draft revision.
Okay, have you thought up those writers? Good. Now let's look at what's the same between at least most of them. Nothing, you say? Look again.
What's the connection that I think I see, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Writers be crazy.
How many famous writers either commit suicide or end up insane and institutionalized... or worse? How many writers become famous, you know, only after it would do them any good, or lived dreary, horrible lives? How many of them were sick, or had rough backgrounds or... you know. Just. Not well.
I think, part of being a writer means... if you're going to be a good writer, things are going to have to suck for you in one way or another. Writing is... kind of an art of lying, and living in a fantasy world, and making meaning out of nothing. Sometimes it's... it can be hard to make that and reality mesh. Writing is cathartic, sure, and healing: I know that when I write, things are always... easier to deal with, like I've got this spongy barrier between me and the rest of the world. But when I end a project, or I'm not writing, or I have a day where I just can't find my flow, there's this sensation of... everything hitting a little harder for a little while.
Writers are crazy. I'm not saying you shouldn't aspire to achieving great writing. I'm saying you should be careful about what that can cost, and while it's great to admire a writer's achievements... we writers ourselves aren't always so worthy of admiration.
I have to go hug Luna now.
~Scrivener Blooms
No comments:
Post a Comment