Hello, you beautiful, talented, brilliant writer,
There are two simultaneous truths that we need to acknowledge: 1. Writing is hard. 2. A writer writes.
I saw a tweet the other day that said something along the lines of "Yes I'm a writer. No I don't write. Yes we exist." It's rubbed me wrong since then (Shaun getting upset about something on social media? Impossible). I understand the sentiment. Writing is so hard. There are other things to do that can be more enjoyable. Self-discipline is hard, especially when writing often requires a sacrifice of free time in a society that doesn't allow for an exorbitant amount of free time.
Plus we're in the middle of a pandemic, and it's hard to be motivated to do anything in the middle of a pandemic. Combine a pandemic with the ego of a writer (you know what I'm talking about here: you think your story is the best story, or you think your story is the worst story. No matter which side of the spectrum you fall on, you are the ultimate good or ultimate bad), and it's an absolute mess.
I get it. I have been there.
But a writer writes.
If you do not write, you are not a writer. You know that's the truth. Every single time you tell someone you're a writer, and they ask what you're working on, and you respond with "well, I have an idea for *insert project you really should be working on here,*" you know the truth that a writer writes. We've all been there. We feel like writing is our destiny, but we rarely do anything to actually pursue that destiny.
I'm not here to condemn you. I understand that it's hard. I'm also not here to be some kind of writing purist who defines what a writer is and what a writer is not. I have been a writer. I have also had large sections of my life where I was not a writer. I had ideas, and I loved the idea of writing, but I wasn't a writer. I didn't commit.
But if you want to be a writer, I believe it's because you have something to share. Something that we can learn from. Something worth sharing. But you have to write. You owe it to that voice in your heart that keeps insisting that you call yourself a writer, even though you are not one. You owe it to yourself when you are asked the dreaded question, "what kinds of things do you write?" You owe it to yourself.
We share platitudes like what I saw on Twitter, because every single person who feels called to writing knows it's hard. We want to be told that we can still be writers without actually writing. We want to have an excuse for why we aren't writing. I've shared those platitudes. I've believed those platitudes. I can almost guarantee that I will share those platitudes again and I will believe those platitudes again.
But a writer writes.
We write, even when it's hard. We write because it's hard. The writers I respect the most are the ones who rise when the world is messy, and they find something beautiful in the mess. We write, because we have the ego to believe that our story will make a difference. We write because writing is what will save us. Writing saves us from ourselves, and writing saves us from the downward spiral of society.
We write because it is easier to write than it is to battle the guilt that comes when we share platitudes about how we can be writers without writing. We write because we owe ourselves the effort to pursue our stories, our poetry, our own memories.
A writer writes.