Letter To A Young Writer
May 6, 2008 by Intrepidteacher
A few days ago, Leila wrote the following in one of her posts:
First, I have a shikayat, a complaint against anyone reading this. Currently only two people are commenting on this blog. I put a lot of work but I guess it’s going to waste. The amazing two people I’m talking about are Mr.R and Julia. Thank you both. I would probably give up if it wasn’t for you. So those of you reading comment and you two amazing people keep on commenting and please send my blog link to anyone you know. Why? Well I don’t are if they think it’s a blog by a wired girl who has an average life. Even if they think so I don’t care just get them to mention that they came; by comment.
This is for you Leila:
Let me start by saying I feel your pain. As a much younger man or was it last week, I felt the pain of not being noticed. I poured my heart out into the world and realized the world didn’t notice, and if it did detect my presence it didn’t seem to care. I feel writing in general and blogging in particular is about communicating and connecting, and it can be very difficult to continually participate in a one-way conversation with what often feels like an abyss. Here is my advice:
We write because we have no choice. It may take some time for you to realize you are a writer; I hope you realize that most people never realize it. Be patient. You are young, observe, live, experience life. The calling will come; I already see it in you. I didn’t hear it until I was nineteen, but it comes to those of us who are passionate and constantly yearning for things we can’t explain. We write because the universe pours too much into our souls for us to handle. We write when awake and we write when we dream. We hear the words as they dance in every song we hear and see them in every face we meet. We write because the world is too perfect not to be documented. We write because we connect with the intangible and spiritual. We write because we appreciate the practical. We write because we are idealist and because we are realist. We write to reawaken magic and put to sleep apathy.
Sometimes we hope that people will read our words and perhaps pat our backs, but when we really start to write we do it because we can’t stop. Writing is bigger than ego and the writer. Writing belongs to the world; we simply catch it and give it form. We scribble on napkins and on the backs of our hands. We write by the way we dress and the way we walk. We realize that life is an on going story that we are writing even as we are living it.
Don’t concern yourself with who is reading your work and what they are or not saying. Just observe, listen, live, love, be young, and enjoy every experience in your life. Each one, good or bad is material for your story. That is the beauty of being a writer, you are constantly ready to work. Some see this vocation as a disease, and in a sense they are right, but once you are infected you have no choice but to continue. Just be glad that you know you are alive, many people in the world have no idea! Spill your guts and tears into words, paintings, music, art. They will never let you down.
I used to think that to be a writer one had to be published, or famous, or paid, but now I see that to be a writer you have to simply write. Rest assured that Julia and I are here and are reading, but don’t concern yourself with any of that. Just write!
- What advice do you have for writers?
- What does writing mean to you?
Please either comment below or write on your blog and give us a link.
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Aaaaah I feel her pain. Nobody reads/comments on my blog either.. I am past caring though. I guess I think if I am really brilliant it will attract viewers, if I’m not then its for a reason, and if it has yet to then I can wait.
And it’s true. We read and write not because we can, or feel the sudden urge to scribble a few thoughts onto paper, but because we must.
It is hard, because most people are not like that. I guess we have to figure out a way to reach the people that do enjoy reading but are not chronic writers.
Oh my! I can feel tears on my eyes by reading this.
Oh the joy when you know that someone is out there reading what you write. I know/ agree with everything you said about writing but I want to write so someone will read, I want to share what’s going on in my life too. On my blog I might seem like an average girl going through a normal life, but no one’s life is normal. Everybody has adventures and stories to tell to the world out there, I guess I want to know what people out their think of my life. Normal or not, thats not what I write for it’s just the fact that someone, anyone is reading it. Right now my blog is the only tool I have that let’s me share my stories.
It’s not the fact that these stories are not shared at all. They are; friends, family.
I guess I need time to think about this. The idea of writing and why I write. I’ll WRITE about it and post it on my blog, I’ll link later,, but I need time.
The post seems really profound and it teaches a lesson I can learn. Being a teenager, getting noticed seems crucial, but many times at school it sometimes seems hard to get noticed.. even for the things I’ve done. I really think observing and being patient is crucial, although I am absolutely impatient. I truly believe that writing is a very efficient way to communicate whether it’s to the world or to myself.
It’s past midnight and I’m tired, but I had to say this:
I write because it is everything to me. Nothing could take it’s place. Absolutely nothing.
Not music, not reading.
Nearly nothing I “write”, on the novel front, is posted and only I read it for months and months. I’m not bothered about other people reading it before I am ready — it’s like my child. -has a strange and almost OCD take on writing-
… it’s the lack of sleep, I swear.
HI everyone Im from costa rica and I completely understand you situation because I too get little comments and when I do they are spam mails. But I really like the voice that you gave that post, and honestly I think it was great posting from what I can see. If you are interested in visiting my site this is the link: lima77.edublogs.org
[...] Well I think it’s time I replied to that post. [...]
Hi,
Mr.R this is for you….
http://panda2.learnerblogs.org/2008/05/07/thank-you/#respond
I read this wonderful post as I was listening to Dntel’s “Umbrella”:
“You can turn the city upside down if you want to
but it won’t keep you dry.
You can turn the city upside down,
like an umbrella but it won’t keep you dry.
When you wrap yourself in a highway strip,
don’t expect any warmth from it.
All it is is cold cement…”
Leila: You’re alive and that’s more than most people will ever realize in their own lives. Credit yourself for that. Others have given up, happy to baste in the juice of “you should” and “don’t question it, it’s inconvenient”. I love the fact that you haven’t given in to that. Real living and real beauty comes from the conflict that arises from our desire for perfection and our awareness that we will never get there. (And a lot of other things that I don’t pretend to understand.)
Question, ponder, challenge, live. We’ll all be better for it. Thanks to Mr. R for recognizing that undefinable energy you exude.
Your ideas and thinking will influence more people than you realize.
Keep pondering,
BF
Guess I’m tardy on this one but I wrote a similar post as Leila’s in March.
http://soojinl10.kiswrites.org/2008/03/29/after-1-month-of-blogging/
Scarily similar Ideas, guess all teen bloggers, or beginning bloggers share similar dilemmas
For writing, just write as Mr. R says. Readership will eventually come, and if you want comments, you should go around random people’s blogs and start commenting on theirs first.
For good example, consider my friend Dabin’s blog http://dabinl10.kiswrites.org
She added her clustrmap only a week ago and it’s already filling up with dots. It was because she was very active in the blogosphere.
And to keep the readership, make your posts interesting. Consider, “Why should my readers read about this?” “Who are my readers? What would they want to read?”
That reflects to all kinds of writing
And to me, writing is a way to persuade and make mutual connections between people. I recently wrote tons of practice AP essays, and those were all about defending my point and using sentence styles to keep the reader reading. Same for blogging, good posts make people moved.
Writing can make friends and allies, as well as it can kill enemies.
We all feel this way sometimes. I often ask myself “Why keep writing? No one’s going to read it. Just give it up!” But then I remember that many writers started off with no one giving a crap about their writing. JK Rowling started off in a one bedroom apartment that she shared with a billion rats and her newborn baby. She spent years trying to get someone to read Harry Potter and now look at her! She’s richer than the Queen of England and EVERYONE knows her.
The ??s:
What advice do you have for writers?
Never give up. Don’t write for the people and don’t write what you think they want to read. Write for yourself and write from your heart. Somebody will want to read it no matter what you write about.
What does writing mean to you?
To me, writing is an escape. Things aren’t going so super great in my life at this moment and when I write I live my world. It’s not about me anymore it’s about the people in the story. Most of the time I pour myself into a character. I solve my own problems on paper. Writing is probably tied with reading for me, second only to dancing (my passion).