So why do I write? I don’t really know. For pleasure? Yes, I suppose so. Because I have something to say? Well maybe. Good enough reasons for an amateur, perhaps, whose books will only ever be seen by me. Artists, painters, photographers… all of these seem content to hang their art on their own walls …
You finish the book, and then a mountain of doubts smash you against the wall… Why did you decide to tell that story… Why did you write those characters… Who were you to invest in those lives… How dare you write those characters… Are you even a good writer? Who will even read that book? …
It is okay to be an amateur. It is acceptable to engage in amateur dramatics. Likewise, it is okay to be an amateur writer. It is okay to devote your time to something you love, even if it is only a hobby. If you love writing, then devote yourself to that. It is okay to …
Then there is the reality check, in which I recall what caused my withdrawal on my last (very brief) attempt to publish in 2013…
I used to write with a pen. Now I write with scissors, no longer afraid to eliminate long passages or whole chapters I once invested days or months in. Gone is the sentiment which used to demand those words remain. No, we see what we wrote in earlier years for what it is.
Revisiting an old manuscript, momentarily I dream of being a writer once more, his words in print. For a day or two, I imagine the draft to have potential, to be considered by an agent or publisher, if only I could just add the spit and polish it demands. Ah, but no, it returns a …
Personally I don’t care who H is. The big mystery I want answered is how a celebrated screenwriter can screw up the final episode of every single drama they create for television. In the past, I have patiently watched every twist and turn, silently wishing the weeks away, desperate to discover whodunnit. Then comes the grand …
This was, perhaps, the best piece of advice I have ever received. It was 1995. I was working a short contract for a software development company in Cambridge, when I learned that the colleague sitting beside me was a published author.
The world is bigger than one man; this or that social media sensation. What difference does it make if I mention the name of whoever it is I am listening to this week, or whose videos I came across thanks to YouTube‘s very unreliable algorithm this afternoon?
In the pre-internet age, there were very few ways the commoner could seek to influence the world beyond their immediate community. For those with talent or good looks, there was always the promise of stardom in music, sport or acting. For the lucky few there was a publishing contract. For the astute, perhaps a career …
Deal with him, comes the command from the top, and soon the trolls and hackers will come marching, determined to silence the insignificant writer nobody reads who speaks his mind too freely. Yes, I have seen the inbound traffic, causing that sudden spike, the flatline zero to one daily visitors suddenly shooting skyward. To battle …
He rebukes us for not disappearing, as we rightfully must. He cannot stand bloggers who write unceasingly, he writes unceasingly on a public forum, granting himself permission to do the opposite of what he says, for his own sentiments are profound and important and true. If only we would just disappear, when we say we …
“A writer who adopts political, social, or literary positions must act only with the means that are his own—that is, the written word. … The writer must therefore refuse to let himself be transformed into an institution…” — Jean-Paul Sartre
Is it good to write? I don’t know. Every year come these blues that petition me: disappear, withdraw and delete these posts for good. All the world has an opinion and each of us thinks ours matter, and are worthy to be expressed, and are important, and need to be uttered in public, for others …
After twenty years moving in this community, and over a decade — on and off — amongst Muslims online, I have grown far too skeptical to take the latest manufactured controversy at face value. To our activists and leaders of opinion, amongst whom are the sincere and faithful, I am sorry; I am sorry that …
