Is Writing As Elusive as It’s Made Out to Be?

Yes and No

Do you have to be in the right frame of mind to be able to write? To ask yourself for permission to write? Is it only for the talented? Can it be for everyone?

These are questions all wanna-be writers ask themselves.

The art of writing is mysterious, it requires heaps of creativity, ideas, patience, and time.

It’s mysterious because you get to reveal something new to yourself and others. There is no limit to the above requirements. Creativity, ideas, patience, and time are eternal qualities.

Creativity

Every experience thought, event, and emotion represents a source of inspiration to spark your creative energies. They help you make sense of what is happening. To question why and how? Attempting to answer these questions helps you see through fresh eyes.

‘’Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep .’’— Scott Adams

Ideas

As long as the world keeps turning, the sun keeps shining and we keep living — writing is attainable. Writing is mere thoughts on paper and so if you think, you can write. Good or bad is futile.

‘’Good ideas become great ideas when you let it out .’’— Unknown

Patience

This quote from The Diary of Anne Frank is irrefutable: Paper has more patience than people. Writing should not feel rushed or forced. If you don’t possess the patience to write, you will develop it over time, no doubt about that.

‘’You may not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.’’ — Jodi Picoult

Time

All writing takes time and effort. After how many bad articles and stories do we get to claim the title of ‘writer’? There is no magic number. It’s like building castles in the sand. Every time you think you got it the waves come in and wash over them. Is it bad writing, or the inconvenient timing of the tides?

Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going — Sam Levenson

The pièce de résistance of writing: Connecting with the reader.

More elusive than writing is to connect the reader with the underlying meaning — the voice behind the words. To take the reader along with you through your experiences, adventures, highs, lows, insights, awareness, and knowledge — a journey far greater than the words alone.

In Conclusion

Writing in itself is and isn't elusive because it is an art. Like a painter, starting with a blank canvas, followed by brushstrokes of texture and color upon color, later revealing the true masterpiece. For me, the biggest challenge is for the reader to take one thing away from my writing that will leave a long-lasting mark in their life.

Maya Angelou — ‘Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.’