We Are Writers

Writers tread where most dare not go. Not that we are not afraid to go there, we just go anyway. Call it brave, call it stupid, call it a calling, but writers in spite of fear will reveal their innermost thoughts, their innermost “secrets;” secrets that most keep to themselves, secrets that writers share with the world.

With each written page we question, “Is this stupid? Will others think this weird or crazy? Will anyone relate to this? Will anyone care? Am I crazy? Should I delete and start over?”

Writers look deep within and then share it with the world—a world that might reject our inner thoughts, a world that might reject us.

And yet, in spite of this, we still write and then put it out there. We put our work on display; we bare our inner-selves and then wait. We wait for criticism, we wait for affirmation, and we wait to see if our work affects another. Maybe writers are a little crazy; certainly, it would be easier to be a closet writer. It would be easier to bury our thoughts as far down as possible or to write and then hide each page away for no one to see. Because, you see, no matter what, we must write. We are writers.

We must write. We write on napkins, we write in the middle of the night, we write during the Super Bowl. (Okay, you got me, yes, that’s what I did.) We write because we must. If we don’t write we feel dead inside. If we don’t write we feel invisible, and so, we are left with transparency—transparency that allows the world to see right through us, transparency that unfolds on the written page, transparency that is out in the universe forever.

On the written page we become courageous. We will write what we will not say.  Writers are courageous and afraid at the same time—courageous with our words and afraid of rejection. Because, for a writer, rejection of our work is personal—it is a rejection of us. And yet, we risk it because we must write.

Don’t allow fear to hold you back. Don’t allow fear to stop you from doing what you love. Don’t allow fear to keep yourself hidden from the world, hidden from relationships, hidden from love. Revealing your inner-self is showing love for others—love for yourself. Gifts and talents are given to us to be shared; hiding it is like pouring out gold in the middle of the ocean. Pass your gold around. Be brave.

We are writers, and we are brave.