Life Experiences. A Writer writing about writing.

NOTE: I enjoy these competitions. I think they allow us all to grow and hone our writing abilities. I have also made some great friends here on ATS. Friends that would probably flag a story about a colonoscopy I once had. *God bless you, my friends* I would be remiss, however, if I didn't provide the opportunity for writer status to equally great writers. So please enjoy the competition, while I do the same from the sidelines, this time.

"I am not an author." I let out a sigh of equal part frustration and exasperation.

"I am a writer. Writers write authors get books published." I tell this to my friends all the time.

But I may stay a writer, even when I get my book published.

In this arena of life experiences, I don't have a single event that has made me a writer. I have dozens. From my father asking me to give it up and concentrate on a career path to the countless rejection slips I've received. Yes, way back when, people used to type on paper and perform actual submissions.
From the early eighties to now, I've had people tell me, "Don't quit your day job."

Singers don't sing for a paycheck. Dancers don't dance for a paycheck. Artists don't paint for a paycheck. It's nice if they do get paid, but it's a part of their soul that compels them to do what they do.

Writers don't write for a paycheck. That same compulsion to write, to create, to discover hidden worlds within our own minds, is what compels, urges us.

Some people just don't get it. Writing is not a career path that I found I was bad at so I stopped. Writing isn't like majoring in accounting in college. "Ooops, I made a mistake, gotta change my major to forestry!"

Writers are artists. Instead of oils, we use words.
Writers are singers. Instead of tones and melody, we use sentences.
Writers are dancers. Instead of movement, we just take you to the universe of our choice.

My experiences have taught me that writing is much more than just something done on a typewriter/word processor/computer. It is a sculpture. Each word a chip of marble. Some stories end up as "David’s" some end up as coffee tables or book ends.

To every writer out there, I say dance with your words, paint with your words, and sing with your words.
Never be embarrassed by your writing. Never be ashamed of your writing. Embrace it, be proud of it. It took me a while to come to terms with that. It made me stronger, but it was a battle I could have done without.

Great thread Beez it is a bit inspiring, for me personally, at least.

I have given up a dream of being an author for the same frustrations that have been listed. I have grown older i have come to understand the difference between an author and a writer. Writing is freedom of expression and no one can take that away from the writer. In the past, I remember looking at sculptures, paintings, and books in admiration of the words that built them. I can also remember the thoughts that I was never strong enough to be come a writer.

I recently returned to college at the age 34 and i came realize in my grades and goals that one is his own critic. Being a prisoner of my own confidence, I have wasted away the first half of my life worrying about what people thought of me. I still have some difficulties striking up a conversation with a stranger, but those are my own demons. I have found writing to be therapeutic in dealing with my self, and to write is to defeat my own demons.

reply to post by Shaiker
I wish you nothing but the best and every and all encouragement to continue writing. Just expressing things on a medium can have a cathartic effect.

Don't stop!

Well said, beez, very inspirational!

I like to think of writing as a hobby.

Originally posted by Druid42
Well said, beez, very inspirational!

I like to think of writing as a hobby.

Thanks! Hobby's are great! In the end, it's all about what YOU want to put into writing. Not anyone else.

reply to post by beezzer


For me writing is an art and a need, a need much like breathing is a need for life, so is writing a necessity for my life (no one who does not have this in their soul can understand that)....I can do so many things with words, create a thing of beauty with them.

but how not to be ashamed or worried to show in public my writing? I share a piece of my soul in everything I write when I create with words.... how is it not difficult to show your soul to others?

reply to post by beezzer


Great post, Beez. Thank you for sharing.

I have been writing since I was 8 years old. I am not even sure why I started in the first place, or what my initial impetus was. Perhaps it was a teacher, who somehow taught me to love words and be moved by them? Or maybe it was a singular event; a particular book which prompted me to choose my own adventure, and I just chose unwisely? It doesn't matter. From a very early age I wrote and drew and sang and made songs. I couldn't help it at first. Though I always had plenty of friends, I was happiest with blank paper and pencils.

I began as most do, through mimicry and in enthusiasm for the art of others. My grandmother used to bring me butcher-paper in large rolls, 2.5" on the side and I would roll the paper out across our dining room table, find a starting point and just draw. Soon I was creating my own characters, and my own worlds. No longer satisfied to just transcribe a copy of a cherished record or D&D module, I begin to create my own fictions. By the time I was 14 I had a "band," wrote and illustrated books, and was well on my way to creating my own worlds.

If it sounds ideal, it isn't. I could have fallen in love with anything; money -- in particular -- and the desire to have and accumulate it might have been a far more useful obsession. I skipped through school like a child, and though I delighted my teachers (especially my art and english teachers!) I wanted out as soon as possible. I graduated early and spent an aborted year at the local community college, laying down the groundwork for degrees in philosophy and physics, as I promised my mother I would, but found I had no heart for it.

Soon I dropped out and moved to Hollywood. For about 15 minutes in 1991, I was the principal songwriter behind one of the biggest "bands" in LA. I dove head long into the world of a starving artist, and got exactly what I deserved.

Years went by, but somehow I lived. I grew up; late, perhaps, and -- in my late twenties, settled down and started a family. Suddenly, I *needed* money. I found it easy to get at first. I think that everything comes easy to me at first, but by the early 2000's, my professional skill-set -- once highly prized -- was falling away, as new technologies rose to replace those which had carried communications forward for a half a century. I was adrift.

I have two beautiful children, and a wife who encouraged me to return to my art. She is so much stronger then I am. We have struggled, but I have returned to school to finish my long neglected degree. I have started writing songs again, and though I never stopped writing stories, I have returned to them with renewed purpose and vigor, thanks -- in part -- to ATS, and posters like yourself.

My happiness is bittersweet, however. My 14 year old daughter, smart as hell and oozing talent for all things "art, writing and music" has really blossomed in the past year. I have a friends who work professionally as illustrators, and they comment that her talent -- while still mimicry -- is already far more developed than many grown ups they have worked with.

I want to encourage her, but it is hard. I am afraid for her. She is obsessed in the same way I am obsessed. Her art drives her, and not the other way around. I wish I could warn her, turn her away from art and down a more productive, or at least more steady path.

Last night I awoke, as I often do, with a wisp of a song on my lips. I checked the inventory and discovered it was original. I raced downstairs at 3:45 in the AM to preserve it to my computer, and -- when I had finished -- I kept writing. Soon the light had come up from the east and I could make out shapes in the living room, outside the pool of light from my tiny computer screen. My daughter sat on the couch, watching me. She told me that she had awoken about an hour before I came down, full of inspiration. She had just finished a new picture when I came down the stairs, so she sat in the darkness and listened as I recorded the new song, and watched as I began to write. Afterward, she had dozed off, and woke only because I was watching her.

I am proud of her, and she is proud of me, but -- perhaps, this post can still serve as a warning. If writing or music, or art is your hobby, tread lightly. There is a fine line, out in the sands of dreamtime, and if you cross over it, your hobby may transform into something altogether more "driving."

If you aren't compelled to go down that road, you would be wise to turn back now. There are easier paths to where we are all trying to go. Our world holds few external rewards for artists, and perhaps that is as it should be. Don't choose art if you still have the power to choose anything else.

reply to post by beezzer


I give up writing for this. You're just too popular. So, I have to tell you that you didn't add that [LEWC) to your subtitle. Other than that. good luck, buddy.

LOL Thought this was your story for learned experience.

reply to post by beezzer
Well put!

I do it for my own expression, an outlet for creativity and to hopefully reach and grow from others input. And that I have exponentially. I told someone recently about placing in some of the contest here, first question, "how much did it pay?"

It's not about that to me.

I love this board. Where else can you reach the world and get direct feedback? Lots I know, but this one I have an affinity for.

I have some friends that are "musicians" (really they suck) and all they ever think about is "making it" and their flamboyant Facebook pictures. I always want to tell them how vain they are, but if you don't have anything nice to say.....

Dance the dance! Now if I could only get a thread editor, I'm the edit king!

Originally posted by beezzer

To every writer out there, I say dance with your words, paint with your words, and sing with your words.

You'll just have to take it on faith when I tell you........I am. Trust me.

Some people will say that the difference between a good author and a good writer is a good agent.

But I agree with you Beezzer, the word author implies what a person does, the word writer implies what a person is.

Good topic. S & F

reply to post by beezzer


Got it in one, Beez.

Writing is a calling, a passion. It's something that we all do because it's something we want to do. It's an escape, a stance, a position we take in the world, it's our innermost thoughts and feelings sometimes skewed and expanded upon, but everything written is like a window into that person, including myself.
People in the world today suffer through life because they never see their true potential, or as you said, society says they "should get a real job." If more people thought in terms of their passions and not making enough just to pay the man each week, we'd be a much better society.

S&F, well done

Originally posted by OpinionatedB

but how not to be ashamed or worried to show in public my writing? I share a piece of my soul in everything I write when I create with words.... how is it not difficult to show your soul to others?

edit on 4-7-2012 by OpinionatedB because: (no reason given)

Write for yourself. Never write just for the approval of others. A rose does not bloom for anyones approval, it blooms because it has to.

reply to post by 0zzymand0s
I applaud your passion, and your daughters as well.

Music, dance and art get so much attantion but writing can capture someone just as easily.

Thanks for sharing your story.

reply to post by timewalker
It's never about the money. Now if I could do it full time and support my family? Heck yes! But I don't set out to write thinking about how this benefit me financially.

I receive almost a cathartic effect whenever I write. It's a sense of accomplishment.

Thanks for your input!

reply to post by Taupin Desciple
Thank you.

I'm honoured that others can recognise the difference as well.

reply to post by 74Templar
Thank you.

Writing is therapy for me. (Imagine the money I've saved! )

Pouring anger, frustration, rage, joy onto pages just makes me feel better afterwards.

I really think writing heals.

Originally posted by beezzer
reply to post by 74Templar

 

Thank you.

Writing is therapy for me. (Imagine the money I've saved!

)

Pouring anger, frustration, rage, joy onto pages just makes me feel better afterwards.

I really think writing heals.

Ya forgot the hidden evil that resides within us all.

Originally posted by TDawgRex

Originally posted by beezzer
reply to post by 74Templar

 

Thank you.

Writing is therapy for me. (Imagine the money I've saved!

)

Pouring anger, frustration, rage, joy onto pages just makes me feel better afterwards.

I really think writing heals.

Ya forgot the hidden evil that resides within us all.

That goes without saying.
*evil laugh*

reply to post by beezzer


Loved your story Beez......

Originally posted by MountainLaurel
reply to post by beezzer

 

Loved your story Beez......

Thank you ma'am.