An Essay Worth the Reading.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

"If you’re really a writer, you’re going to do what you have to do to be what you must be."

I just read that. And there are other bits that I wanted to copy and paste here, like this one:

But walking the walk of writing means taking on the job of forging a creative self. The job description entails discovering what works and what doesn’t, and making changes and adapting to realities. This sometimes means you have to adjust your goals.


Or this part:

You may want to be a best selling author, or a magical realist. But writers are both born and made. You’ll find out your head doesn’t always work the way you believed it could. Not yet. Maybe not ever. So what can you do? What do you have to say? What kind of writer can you become at this moment, and what you can work for in the future? If you really are a writer, you’ll keep digging, keep excavating yourself and the body of literature for the right combination of forms, techniques and subject to do what you feel you must. You’re going to make choices to become what you want to be, consciously, or unconsciously.

Or you’ll give up, relax, and do something else with your time. Nothing wrong with that.

No one can tell you what it will take for you to become a writer. If you’re not born knowing, or raised in household of writers who trained you from birth, then you have to figure it out, make up your own lesson plan, pull the material you need from places like this. Pay attention to what you feel passionate about and follow that feeling. Be prepared to sacrifice. Ultimately, you’re going to have to answer the question of how much you’re willing to surrender to achieve what you want


But then I realized at this rate, I'd be copying and pasting the whole damn article. So hie yourselves over to Storytellers Unplugged and read the whole enchilada 'On Writing and Stuff...' by Gerard Houarner, here. He's also taking comments & questions.

You're welcome.
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2 comments:

Katrina Glover said...

Cool article!

vanessa jaye said...

I thought so. ;-)

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