Beautifully said. I've had clarity of vision as to what I wanted to do in life since I was 13. And I've done those things. I've supported myself as a writer, I've worked for newspapers & lived that romantic ideal of the beat reporter. But I never really wrote for the joy of it. Like you said, it was transactional. In the last few years, as the world has changed, mental illness & addiction has created new forms of trauma in addition to what I already had as a result of childhood abuse, I realized writing is like playing a musical instrument. The things you practice may never see light & some probably shouldn't. I'm currently writing, longhand in a notebook as God intended, the synopsis of a book I'm going to write. I feel empowered. For the first time in a long time, I feel that energy within me, the muse. Part of that has been reading your work. As well as being educational, your work comes from a place of stewardship to the Craft. It's honest & well-intentioned, never condescending or patronizing. I turn 50 this year & like the saying goes "It takes a long time to not write a book." One of my literary heroes, Raymond Chandler, didn't publish his first book until he was 52, so I feel some hope. But it wasn't until I remembered the joy of just writing for the sake of the art itself that I found the spark necessary to do this. And I thank you for the part you & this forum has played in that awakening, sir.
Beautifully said. I've had clarity of vision as to what I wanted to do in life since I was 13. And I've done those things. I've supported myself as a writer, I've worked for newspapers & lived that romantic ideal of the beat reporter. But I never really wrote for the joy of it. Like you said, it was transactional. In the last few years, as the world has changed, mental illness & addiction has created new forms of trauma in addition to what I already had as a result of childhood abuse, I realized writing is like playing a musical instrument. The things you practice may never see light & some probably shouldn't. I'm currently writing, longhand in a notebook as God intended, the synopsis of a book I'm going to write. I feel empowered. For the first time in a long time, I feel that energy within me, the muse. Part of that has been reading your work. As well as being educational, your work comes from a place of stewardship to the Craft. It's honest & well-intentioned, never condescending or patronizing. I turn 50 this year & like the saying goes "It takes a long time to not write a book." One of my literary heroes, Raymond Chandler, didn't publish his first book until he was 52, so I feel some hope. But it wasn't until I remembered the joy of just writing for the sake of the art itself that I found the spark necessary to do this. And I thank you for the part you & this forum has played in that awakening, sir.