You're Not Alone...

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
Albert Einstein

Have you ever felt like sometimes your writing is in vain? That you’re alone on this intergalactic spaceship filled with words that are taking form but no one is there reading those thought provoking words? I have felt this way many a time in my writing career and that is the reason I join writing sites, so I can share my words with at least SOMEONE who is like minded and cares enough to read what I write.

Often times I post my hard work and it is as if I have the plague. People won’t comment and I realized something this week. I wrote this awesome poem. Yes, I am conceited enough to know when my poems are awesome. Some I might say, “EH.” to, but more often than not I say, “Wow! Where did that come from?” So what did I discover this week? That newcomers to the writing world are intimidated by another writers ‘well written’ work. Even if they like it, they should respect me as a writer and say so. If they don’t like it, then say so that too!

You see, my poem was so awesome that they felt less confident in themselves or they may have felt they didn’t measure up in some way. I’m here to tell you, stop with the ‘I fear, woe is me pity party’ please! You have a right to be nervous, you have a right to be leery of sharing your work with others, you even have a right to feel you won’t measure up. But by golly, if YOU are taking on the name of calling yourself a ‘writer’, you better stiffen up and get in line that stretches around the corner to the pity party.

YOU are not alone! You need leather-like skin in this business. We writers are not here to stroke your ego, we’re not here to make you feel special, we’re here to read what you wrote, and give honest feedback, so you can GROW as a writer! Sometimes people don’t feel like they are in a place where they can give feedback and that they just want to write, post and have people like what they write.

Well I’m here to tell you, not everyone will like what you write, and good writers will be the first to tell you where you might need work, where you did great and where you need a little tweaking. Did you join a writing site to post pictures? Did you join to promote your blog? Did you join to make all the friends you possibly could? I don’t think so, I think you came to learn the craft of writing and to share what you have learned along the way.

Too often I see people who write, but need a picture to visually give an idea of what they have written. If you need a picture to help people understand what you’ve written then you better go find a stock photography site and start posting there. Writers can give you a visual with no picture needed. THAT is what the craft is all about! Being able to fill your readers mind with the visual picture of your spectacular work!

You’re not alone in the journey, you joined a writing site to share the journey with fellow writers. The least you can do is respect the others, and give a kind and gentle comment (if you have nothing to offer constructively) and begin becoming a REAL WRITER.

Writing is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to those who have none.
Jules Renard