
Some say no new stories have been written since the bible or Shakespeare. So today I borrow from the Bard (and myself on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/mark-bentcover)) to convey my message:
To write, or not to write: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to wax philosophic,
Or to scribe against my writer's block,
And if not end it? To die, to wane;
No more; and by this blog to say I end,
The heartache and the dwindling interests of readers,
That writings are heir to, ’tis a beginning,
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to wane;
To write: perchance to publish: ay, there’s the rub;
For in this blog of whimsy what dreams may come,
When I have shuffled off this author's coil,
Must give me pause: there’s the respect,
That makes calamity of so long a text;
For who would bear critics and naysayers in time,
The reader’s wrong, the writer’s chagrin,
The pangs of emptiness, the profit’s delay,
The insolence of the spurns,
That patient merit of the unworthy patrons,
When I myself might my quiet make,
And thus the native hue of resolution,
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great sorrow,
With this regard my currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. Soft you now!
My fair readers! Mysterious your wants and prayers,
Be all my sins remember’d.
Alas, me thinks I must write and never stop until the day I can write no more.
Departing from iambic pentameter for this fleeting moment:
How do you become a writer?
You write something everyday!
How do you make your writing interesting?
Some may say lead an interesting life, I say lead an INTERESTED life.
Sure, if you're Hemingway, Dickens, Bryson, or a cast of others your daily adventures lead to intriguing prose but for the lesser person you can embed interest and adventure in your work by being a keen observer of men and women. In so doing you can capture the interest of others and invoke the adventure of others through research and imagination.
Everyone in the world has a unique voice inside them.
Wouldn't it be an interesting world if we were all given the opportunity to read about them?
I believe so, others may disagree.
So, I lay this challenge before you...
If you want to be a writer... WRITE something everyday.
If you want to be published... KEEP writing until you have a completed manuscript.
AND... once you have said manuscript keep knocking on every publisher's or agent's door until one opens and your work is published for all who care to see and read.
NOTE: For those with the means and who tire of having many doors slammed in their face you may choose to self-publish. Although I consider this a grand option (if you can afford to do it) I prefer to do things with a team. My mind and my work only get better when I enlist the help of others be they editors, agents, publishers, or critics.
So, to write or not to write, that IS the question.
Then my answer will now and forever be: WRITE!
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