Writers Can't Help But Write

I told my former boss that I'd been planning to write a children's book. A somewhat awkward silence followed this disclosure and alerted me to the strangeness that the listeners of my news must experience.

Normally, they repeat what I say first...

"Write a book?"

It's always in question-like form, as though they must've mis-heard me.

"Yeah."

So goes the same conversation I've stopped having with anyone else, lately.

One of my favorite books advises against telling others that you're planning to become a writer, publish a book, write about anything, really...

I should've taken Carolyn See's advice.

Too late...

You'd think you'd get more support than discouragement when you tell people you want to write a book.

You'd be wrong in that assumption.

Why is that?

Because... telling people of your intentions isn't the same as silently going about them until you can prove you completed the goal you set privately for yourself.

All this has been a learning experience for me.

As soon as I told a few close people that I was writing a children's book,
the worst case of writer's block stopped the slight progress I'd been making on a quirky little story I'd been certain kids would enjoy.

It's like part of the magic got lost or something...
I shoud've kept all this to myself.

A writer should not talk about writing.
A writer should write.

"Writer's can't help themselves", said my former employer over the phone that day I told him my secret plans.

"What?"

"I mean, writers can't help but write. It's like they do it because they have to do it. They have a need and they write."

I could relate to his explanation immediately.

What I had trouble doing was responding with anything even remotely intelligent...

I'm better at writing than at talking.
I'm proficient in both forms of communication.
The conversation that followed my mentor's disguised encouragement did not evidence my abilities in either of the former social styles of relating to people.

"I've kept journals since I was 5."

You'd think I could've come up with something better and more convincing to say to someone whose respect I've always sought to attain.

I didn't.

The point of all this is...

If you're going to write something...
WRITE IT.

I'll take my own advice, starting now...

Stay tuned...
and listen to everything Carolyn See says in her books for writers and dreamers.
Or face the same block I'm dealing with and post blogs about it so everyone knows you're completely contradicting your point.

:)