The magic of writing

(Yep, it's another long one, folks.)

Do you have secret (or not so secret) aspiration of becoming a published author? Please answer my poll.

On every author's blog or website I've ever been to, there is always a Frequently Asked Question wanting advice on how to become an author. And I've observe that almost everyone seems to be harboring a secret desire to someday write. Write what? That depends on who you talk to...a movie script, a novel, a memoir, a how-to book, anything.

I assume this preponderance of aspiring writers is due to the happy fact that many people enjoy reading and thus would like to experience the magic of words from the other side of the door. But many people also enjoy art. But seldom do you see people aspiring, quite ardently I might add, to be the next Monet or Picasso.



And I think it really comes down to one word that I've already mentioned: Magic.

Think of Hamlet riding back on a boat with his seeming friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Until he read a secret missive from his uncle ordering his two companions to kill Hamlet, he believed they were to be trusted. But because he knew how to read and write, he was able to modify the death sentence to read that R & G were to be killed, not Hamlet himself. (He ended up dying anyway, but that's beside the point...) When Hamlet appeared alive in the court of his uncle, it may have seemed to be a kind of magical power that had delivered him from danger.


Historically, Runes have been a branch of magic and mysticism. Many sources believe the runic alphabet simply started out as a means of communication, just like our alphabet and writing system today. But so few people had the knowledge of how to write that those who did posses this skill were revered as powerful. And probably quite feared, also.

So just as we all are closet pyromaniacs, secretly in awe of fire and the power one holds who controls said fire, we all inherently understand the magic and power that comes from being able to write.

How lucky we are to be raised in a society where it is the norm to be literate. Certainly many people are terrible spellers, many people can't clearly and concisely get their point across in a professional letter, and fewer numbers each year are feasting on the words from good books. But the majority of our population can read words such as "Danger" and "Poison" or can scrawl a note and have it sent miles away, even millions of miles away, and have that idea clearly understood by the recipient.

So to all secretly harboring aspirations of becoming an author, I say

WRITE!

And never stop writing! It is only by practice that we improve. And no matter how poorly written down your ideas are, imagine how poorly understood your unspoken thoughts will be to your family after you have passed from this life.



(Incidentally, I found this quote hilarious as I never can remember an exact quote, only the feelings the idea has left me with..."Misquotation is, in fact, the pride and privilege of the learned. A widely- read man never quotes accurately, for the rather obvious reason that he has read too widely." —Hesketh Pearson)