Writers Lost

WRITERS LOST
by Lori Lee          
         
    Some writers never become writers. They either don’t know that they’re writers or they were otherwise discouraged for some reason. I too am a writer that almost wasn’t, not because I never wrote anything, but because of the reaction to things I did write. I wrote my first novel while I was still in high school, and no, it was never published, it was confiscated. It was a horror fiction about aliens invading the bodies of our very own teachers in which the students had to fight for their lives to survive a day at school. It was quite popular. I turned out a chapter per day in separate folders so the chapters could be passed around to whomever wished to be distracted by it. After finding a chapter carelessly left on a bleacher, I was called in to see the principal. He wasn’t exactly angry, but unimpressed and I was forbidden to continue with the novel or face suspension, involving mom. I immediately ceased my work and went about like it never happened. That one event stifled my writing enthusiasm for years, and then it happened, my story became a movie. I don’t know who wrote it or any of the players involved, but when I saw it, I knew it was my idea, an idea thrown into the garbage bin back in high school. Fine. I am a writer and controversy is good.

    Many writers are encouraged in other areas and don’t realize for
years that they are indeed writers. It’s such a simple label and doesn’t have the brassy ring to it that “a movie star” or “rock star” seems to have. It doesn’t bring to mind wealth and prestige like Doctor or Lawyer. Many times it just isn’t the thing an ambitious parent or teacher might encourage, especially to a kid already bored and difficult to challenge. Writing is however, the perfect profession for such a person. Every day is a new challenge and a new adventure for the writer because by the simple nature of writing a person spends a lot of time finding out about things they want to write about. A highly intellectual person bored with the constructs of the modern testing-based classroom, could prove to be a master author if given enough room to perform.

    The desire to write must be fed a steady diet of audience and
feedback. An audience is the reason the written word was invented in the first place and an audience is the desire of every author. Some audiences come easy and don’t need to be sought out. An audience means there is a reason for you to write. Put simply, if you’re writing and people are reading it, you’re a writer.  Feedback is as important but for a different reason. Writers don’t always welcome feedback and sometimes ignore it altogether. Writers Ego can be huge and usually is at one point or another in the typical authors life, stronger than writers block, it has destroyed many writers enthusiasm and chased them from the profession. A smart writer will, of course, add that feedback to their research and use it selfishly whenever the moment calls for it. This is one profession where one really can make lemonade from sour lemons.