AUTHOR'S CORNER;

ASK YOURSELF; DO YOU REALLY WANT TO WRITE A NOVEL?

It's every writer's dream, right?  The finished product upon the shelves of bookshops across the country.  The accolade that comes with the mere title of becoming an author.  The fame and acknowledgement from your peers and an instant leap into stardom that one can only expect with becoming published.  It is the last bit of the jigsaw puzzle, the final nail in your enemy's coffin, all those who doubted you.  Makes sense, it's only logical that as writers, we have something substantial to show for our talents.  Every time you close your eyes, you can picture yourself upon the cover of a magazine, or your name up in lights amongst the other well acclaimed, well accomplished authors of your time.  At last people will listen, people will read, people will know you.  At last you will have a voice and your thoughts will penetrate and influence the lives of so many others.  People will read you on the bus, on the train coming home from work, thousands of people will pick up your book on a lazy Sunday afternoon and simply bask in your words and delight in your story.  Holidaymakers will pick up a copy in the airport shop, on their way to some far off land, to lie on the beach and smile at your literary abilities.  Sounds great.  You can now die a happy man!

THE LONELY TRUTH......

For every successful, well known, multi-millionaire writer out there, there are a thousand not so well known, (albeit successful) not so rich, and very frustrated published writers!  Writing is not a mechanical process, it is not a thing of logic, it is not a business proposition.  Writing is neither cathartic nor cleansing; it is not with the revealing of one's hidden secrets that fame and fortune shall unravel.  It is not a project one can put into process and expect an exact outcome, writing is not a money weaver.  Because, if you are writing for any of those purposes, then my friend, you shall be sorely disappointed!  Writing is an art!  And like any other art out there it is pure and unbridled, it is wild and can not be tamed, it will not yield to your will, instead, you may have to yield to it!  Art forms do not make money, they are just there for the pleasure.  The only reason we make money out of any art form, is because one has been lucky enough to have had a following at the right space in time, with the right kind of crowd and the right climate.  This does not mean that the others were no good.  

Don't take your writing as a business proposition, the minute you do, you will no longer be creative.  The moment you stop being creative, is the moment you will be stuck forever!  Don't think about your writing as the next best selling novel, if you do that, you will never write that best seller, because you'll be too busy thinking and not creating!  Don't measure yourself or compare yourself to other writers, if you know you can write, if you can feel it, if the words of inspiration are in your head, then that should be proof enough for you.  Don't ever think.

An author's life is not filled with awards and best sellers and book signings.  The truth is very few authors make it to that stage.  The truth is, it's long, lonely days in solitude and hard work.  It is many manuscripts sent to publishers and many rejections received.  It is chasing after book sellers trying to arrange book signings, or begging newspapers to give you a review!  And on occasion, if we are lucky, we might hit the charts, or be accidentally read by some film producer, or may be even die in a tragic accident and shoot to fame that way!  But on the whole, remember, it is an art and we do it for the love of the art!

We write because we know we can, we write because we have something to say, because we are able to say it in a way not many can.  We write because we have been gifted and we want to share that gift, we need to share that gift, even if it is with only a few others.  We write because that is what we were made to do!  We write because we love to write.  And every novel, every plot, every idea, every single word is heartfelt and real to us!

That is why we write!