Sunday, August 03, 2008

To write...

Writing isn't fun.

Really it isn't.

According to an online website, the definition of fun is given for "activities that are enjoyable or amusing."

Most people will agree with me when they say that writing isn't usually an activity that is enjoyable or amusing. Sure sometimes it may be a stress reliever and some people may actually “enjoy” writing in a sense that they find that it helps them in certain ways, but it isn’t enjoyment as say basketball, swimming, eating or maybe even reading.

Let me rephrase my earlier sentiments.

Writing may be fun but writing so that other people will read it and judge it and they are allowed to say whatever they may about it, isn't.

Writing for the sake of writing can be fun if you're one in probably five college students (of course, you shouldn't trust that statistic as I'm only guessing around here) who enjoy that kind of hobby, like people who collect stamps or bottle-caps. It makes sense to you but not really to a lot of people.

But writing so that people will see it, so that they will judge it and speak about it and therefore, writing for writing's sake is no longer the only reason why you have to write, and it's because what these people will say about it and to other people will all depend on what you write and how good or bad it is, well that isn't so much fun as some people make it to be.

Writing, in that sense, isn't fun because you need to be constantly aware of what you're writing. You'd have to be well acquainted with the dictionary and the thesaurus and sometimes even your grammar rules book. You'd have to face those moments of that evil thing that all writers of every size and stature have to face; the mind numbing Writer's Block, and these moments can last from hours to days to weeks and even to months at a time. And even, even, when you’ve gone through the whole process of writing and you have the finished product right in front of you and ready to show to those people, your hard grueling work doesn't guarantee that they will actually like it.

There's nothing more precious to a writer than his/her work of art and to have it torn to shreds is the worst feeling in the world. That's why some people would rather keep their writing abilities encased in the privacy of journals and diaries.

So why do people write?

If there's a chance that people would tear all your hard work to pieces, why bother picking up the pen in the first place?

Because writing offers you something deeper and more lasting than activities that are fun. Yes, it's hard work, but the rewards are enormous. There is that joy, the longing to express yourself can be met by writing. Like a real painter will continue to paint even if no one seems to like the paintings, a real writer will continue to write even if no ones seems to appreciate the writings.

It's a lot of hard and tedious work and if you don't like the unnecessary pressure, then you definitely will not like writing. But after all is there anything really worthwhile that isn't hard? No pain, no gain, right? Maybe that's why I write. Because it may be fun during certain periods, but more than that it's something so much deeper, so much lovelier than fun.

Writing isn't fun.

It's a joy

Lotsa love, Jana

Labels: Lo this deserves no category

by jana at 2:06 PM |