The thread over on facebook started with a quote, which is a pretty good quote, from a writer I’d never heard of, Charles Close: Inspiration is for amateurs.
His point being, I suppose, that writing is mostly hard work. I guess that’s different for every writer – I suspect that some, like Steinbeck and Twain, were just natural born story tellers and could have written their books standing up, orally, in a bar, while consuming large quantities of alcohol, but they are the few. Most of us are playing Salieri to their Mozart, we are the hard working, dedicated chorus line dancers struggling in the shadow of a Michael Jackson.
So, I don’t disagree with the basic point, but I felt like being contrarian and sticking up for the value of inspiration, because without that
I am not him
spark, that moment of magic, that ephemeral link with a higher plane of existence, there is no purpose in writing at all. The phrase I used, that people didn’t like, was “to raise the consciousness of mankind.”
I suppose that is a bit melodramatic. First off, there are thousands and thousands of writers out there, maybe even millions, and it’s safe to assume we don’t all have the same motivation. Many are writing for their own well being, their own mental health. Writing is good therapy, it can calm the nerves and also it can bring out that which was hidden. Some may write for money, but I suspect that’s usually a secondary motivation, because there are easier, more lucrative jobs out there, such as migrant farm laborer. Some probably write for the same reason that male dogs lick their own penises – because they can. In addition to the aforementioned attempt to raise human consciousness, there is another reason I write: because just speaking is not enough.
Conversations are forgotten, conversations are just strings of banal words and mine aren’t that different from anyone else’s. I don’t want to be like everyone else. Although my public persona, at least the public persona I am trying to project, is that of a fairly mild mannered, easy going sort of guy, deep down I’m a seriously vain, egotistical prick who thinks my opinion counts for more than other people’s and I want my words to be remembered.
Listen to me, goddamit! I am trying to raise your fucking consciousness!
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