Honesty

I wrote about enthusiasm on my blog about being healthy and I do tend to communicate my sense of enthusiasm in my writing; but that is not what I want to write about here. Basically, I write here what I have learned over the years hoping that I would put into words those hard learned lessons that I learned over the years. Maybe I can help another writer. Maybe not.

What I did learn was to be honest about what I wanted to write about. If I was enthusiastic, then I wrote that way. If I wasn't, I did not write that way. For a long time, much of the writing that was mainstream was not optimistic or enthusiastic about anything. So, in order to fit in I tried to write like everyone else was writing. I hated what I was doing and a series of writing blocks erupted on my pathway making my road very uncomfortable and disagreeable. I listened to my teachers and professors trying to conform. Since I am like most writers and read, I tried to conform to what I was reading. There was no joy in my writing. I did not have any fun writing, and didn't until I stop listening to all of that crap.

I am not saying that you should be enthusiastic as I am. No, good heavens no. What I am writing here is honesty. Some of what I wrote rings very false now when I read it. I know someone who was very much of a downer as a writer and wrote that way. He hated his life and wrote books that did very well. He never reads his stuff, but he was honest and is proud of what he did in earlier years. Is he more optimistic? No. He still hates his life, but he is married now and feels a bit more optimistic and recently got a job as a syndicated newspaper columnist. That has taken off and he loves that. His books have lost a bit of the edge he had in the earlier years because of that. He thinks he has more of an outlet for his pessimism although he likes to call himself a realist or pragmatist. He reads a lot of William James. Luckily, his book sales have not suffered.

Part of the reason, one writes is that it is fun. If it isn't or it doesn't satisfy something deep inside oneself, why do it? Of course, I could not stop writing if I wanted to. Still, if I lived several hundred years ago and I was writing on paper and it wasn't going anywhere I would still do it. Nowadays, I get to send it out into cyberspace. I even love the word, cyberspace. Ah, life is grand these days and honesty is so much better doing as a writer than anything else.