Why Write?

Feeling pretty blue today, aren't you? Keep up with your online endeavours, who knows what may make you famous and immortal?

Ik Din Mit Jayega Mati ke Mol, Jag mein reh jayenge pyare tere bol

(One day you'll be sold at the price of dirt; what will remain in thw world is your words)

dee:

you write because you have an urge

if you don't you will die ... the "you" is both general and specific

will these resonate? yes they will ... through other writers' words

the ideas and ideals words paint have a life ... distinct ... of their own ... and live long

:)

So this isn't a good time to point out grammatical errors?

Just kidding. Dee, mediocre crap exists but that's not your bag, baby. [This could have been horrible. Luckily I re-read my comment before hitting Publish and inserted a "not" before "your bag" that wasn't there before.]

I would slightly disagree that writing is just an urge. Some have an urge to also write well, and have it mean something to others. That seems to be what Dee is expressing, and surely I can understand that, because I often feel the same.

It's strange though that even when I was writing newspaper articles and getting generally positive to very positive feedback - especially about the features and profiles I wrote on places and things, it never seemed like much.

Of course I am grateful it was there, and looking back it probably kept me in the game longer than I would have stayed otherwise. Because it's not the writing goal I had in mind, which I still have, to write books, of novel or collected short stories.

Helping others improve their writing is a goal I have as well, however.

So goals are important, too.

It's why I think I'm about to ditch my political blog - because I didn't get in it to do all the writing there because my passion isn't reporting and op-editing about worthless politicians and their doings. And the worthy politicians already have a lot of publicity.

Dee, has an area of passion in her writing - and she knows it and knows what it is and her story-telling and narrative skills show most obviously in that arena.

It's not blogging necessarily, though that can mean a lot to people as well - obviously and thankfully. For some blogging is just the taste on the spoon while the real meal is getting cooked and ready for consumption.

Or it's masturbation while waiting for the real thing!

The urge is very much there but Temple understood what I was trying to get at and I get the concept of goals or else its pointless meandering:)

"slightly disagree" is alright:)

on creative urge

there are many ways to kill a fly ... the motivation may differ from writer to writer ... the aim may differ ... presentation, grasp, chosen format, market, narcissism, adulation ... but from my vantage the overhanging cloud cover is the "urge"

this urge is the creative muse that wakes one up from deep slumber or if awake refuses to let one to go to sleep till it is fed a diet of words

sans urge, writing is automation ... it is "duty"

the weather is cloudy, with intermittent showers. seventy buses and cars went up to nathula pass and 68 returned. search and rescue team has been dispatched.

Deepti,

I have to agree with Temporal here. You write because you are driven to. For some people, writing is therapy, even though it is a craft well practiced. I know this is so for me, and having read your writing and your blogs, I know it is true for you. Temporal is an artist. I am an artist. You are an artist. Face it, whatever else you do to make money you are an artist, driven as is an artist.

One of your stories still haunts me, young lady.

Now, if that isn't praise for a writer (aside from the loud applause the silent sound of folded rupees makes), what is?

The thought that I cannot make a career out of my passion did me in at least as of now;) I keep telling myself that I am lucky to have time to devote to writing but yes for my 'art' I am grateful , need to revise my grammar ( I gotcha Temple!) and Ruvy thanks a bunch, your words meant a lot to me.

I don't suppose Shakespeare wrote to make a mark upon the world, nor did mozart compose to be acclaimed a genius b all, nor any of the great oets and artists. They created for the love of creation, and to earn money to buy bread.

Many of them starved to death. Picasso was the first artist to become a millionaire through his paintings.

So write for the love of writing. For goodness' sake, there are so many ghost writers writing for so many famous "writers." At least you know that this is your own, and you earned the credit for it.

Both Shakespeare and Mozart were geniuses and I am not and both of them were well recognized for their crafts and they performed for the royalty.

True that Mozart died a destitute but that more due to being a self destructive person and less to do with his talent.

I do know a ghost writer and it is a living of sorts and no I see no reason why I should be complacent just because somewhere someone is less fortunate than I am.

Shakespeare was not hailed as a genius when he lived. I don't know about Mozart. Shakespeare's work has long outlasted Shakespeare because he was a genius and because he wrote at a point in time when English was still in a developing stage. Chaucer is recognized for the same reason; in addition both used many of the same plots that had been floating around Europe for centuries.

And that is the point, Deepti. Your work is original to you. And you do not know whether what you write will outlast you.

depressed :-(

So was I but the burden of the feeling has lightened tremendously;)