If you are going to die an unrecognized genius, then at least write something

[Taverner]

Shit, it doesn't have to be published. Did John Kennedy O'Toole publish his book before he died?

Just f'ing write it.

Just saying.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear Taverner...

Now, that's excellent advice.

I've been published, as you know, but I hope to do a LOT more...

What brought this on?

:hi:

[Taverner]

2. I am a writer, who has not written in years

IN fact, 20 years since I seriously wrote

Yet I have so much inside my head, and its dying to get out



I gave up writing when I gave up journalism. Right after graduation. You see, I have an MS in Journalism. The goal was to be a foreign correspondant - and I idolized Christane Amanapour. Ever since she covered the 1st Iraq war, I knew she was the ultimate in that field.

But after meeting real journalists, and seeing the pay (I was looking at min wage in Modesto, part time!) I kept my college job of working as a Tech support guy for an internet company. It paid more than I could expect in writing, and I liked it.

So I did all I could to subconsciously crush my writing spirit. When I had ideas, I stopped writing them down. When technology made it possible to just speak your ideas, I ignored it.




And I am sick of this - this shit needs to get out

Somehow, someway - even if it kills me









I hope my kids find a way to either follow their dreams, or make a comprimise with them. I did neither.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. You know you can still write...

Just sit down sometime, and let the words out. Give yourself half an hour or an hour every day, and you'll find it coming back.

I wrote years ago too, though I never wanted it as a career. I just felt good writing it down, whatever it was.

Being here on DU reawoke that, and now I'm writing again, and loving it...

Make yourself a writing space, and use it!

You won't be sorry.

I know you won't...

:hug:

[Taverner]

5. Thank you

Please, keep me to this...

[Dr Morbius]

4. What if I die recognized as a genius...

...but a major disappointment?

[Taverner]

6. The only genius that is truly a dissapointment is the genius who uses it for evil

The NAZIs had many geniuses working for them

[Haole Girl]

7. I'm not a genius, by any stretch

But I write anyway.

I've posted this before, but I'll post it again. Just because I like it... and I've been thinking about it...

"The Mirror"

She sees her face in the mirror
In the morning light
A wrinkle never noticed before

How quickly the years go by
How difficult it seems to say good bye
To the way her smile could open doors
And the way it feels to be invisible
Much more difficult than before

She thinks of that hat of straw
And the glimpse in the mirror
she saw
with her face beet red
The garden was hot that day
And she laughed at twenty
At the image she saw
And hoped it would be quaint
Or respectable
Or easy
to age

She could not have been more wrong
if she'd been truly insane
And wonders why a person so
jaded
would still feel pain

She quickly washes her hands
Not even looking as she leaves
And knowing sooner or later
She's going to have to believe
In herself and her strength

Searching deep down inside
she knows she has the will
to survive
She's used it all along
Though carried by her beauty and smile

Now she truly finds out
what others warned her for years
And she knows she is able
It's time to face her fears.

***

[Taverner]

8. Good. Write until you find someone who gets it. Then write some more.

[Haole Girl]

9. I write for me

If I wrote for someone to get it, I would have given up a long time ago. ;-)

[abq e streeter]

14. If I may be presumptuous enough to say I get it... well... I get it. that's really good.

[old mark]

10. Future would be PhD's depend on your leaving an obscure literary

trail they can mine for Theses.

Scatter those poor drones a few fucking crumbs, if you are even a bit creative. They will thank you for it and you will be rewarded in the next life if not in this one. God will give you a few bucks. Maybe a donut, too.


mark

[begin_within]

11. Just keep writing for yourself at least

I have come to believe that most great works of art, literature, etc., were acts of creation that were primarily for the person who created it. If they became popular and successful and made money, sure that's great. But I think the creative type is more motivated by the act of creation itself than any later reward such as money, recognition, awards and all that. Jack Kerouac wrote, "Blow as deep as you want- write as deeply, fish as far down as you want, satisfy yourself first, then reader cannot fail to receive telepathic shock and meaning-excitement by same laws operating in his own human mind." So write for yourself. If other people dig it, great, even if nobody else ever reads it, fine at least you did it and got the enjoyment out of creating it and reading it afterwards. That's the main thing. Anything else from it is just gravy.

[Odin2005]

12. I keep on wanting to write a Sci-Fi novel, But I'm to lazy to start on it.

I've created the whole Sci-fi universe the novel would take place in (human society circa 4000AD), complete with http://wiki.frath.net/Solaric">creating a descendant of English, and a detailed history. I know, I'm WAY too geeky...

[hunter]

13. I've got some novels written. A couple with multiple rejection letters attached.

When I've got grand kids, great nephews and nieces, geat grandkids, and all such relations old enough to be embarrassed by nuts in their family tree, I'm gonna self-publish and gift hard copy for Christmas.

Didja ever read my novels???

If I'm lucky they'll put me in an assisted living facility for time travelers, space aliens, people living in multiple dimensions, and women with strange tats who once rode motorcycles topless.

[abq e streeter]

15. Thank you Taverner and the others who've responded to your OP

I needed to see this. I haven't written a good song in years (and those are generally lyrics only; I work with guitar players to get the progressions and then melodies) , but never got around to making a good professional recording of the ones I did write, although I've been talking about it for a long time ( and not doing much besides talking about it, including to my counselor who keeps trying to help me get off my ass and do it). I do need to just fuckin' do it; both record what I've got, and start at least trying to write some more. Instead, I've been letting a deeper and deeper inertia creep into my existence, with all the negativity that creates and reinforces. And I have no illusion at my age of selling a single solitary CD, nor would I even try; I just need to do this for myself. But god, that inertia...

[petronius]

16. If I write something, I'll more likely die a recognized ungenius

than an unrecognized genius... :)