Talent,
with its overinflated rating, has its place.
Give
it too much significance and you are as dead as silence. As inspired as a
couple of blank pages on a writer's desk.
As
a writer, you have a responsibility. It calls you like the sound of a clarion,
to something upward and truly fulfilling. You wouldn't want to trade that off
for spiff if you knew any better. Being prolific ought to be unagitated. Like
still waters thrusting into the deep of one’s soul to activate sediments of
hard earned resources - your everyday experience of life - in literary
enterprise.
You are what you write!
You
can't rely on talent alone!
Certain
things hinder a writer's progress in his/her quest for creativeness. There are
diverse issues which are not unconnected which cripple a writer's productivity,
eat away at the heart of his genius like cancer.
Fear is a
mortal sin. So many writers have fallen like seed by the wayside because they
were afraid of draught-petrified they might run out of stories. A far greater
number of writers have given up their dreams of taking up writing as a career
before they ever got started, scared of someone scoffing at their ideas. I do
not for one moment believe that either of these two sets of writers lacked a writer's talent. What they lacked obviously is a fighting spirit.
Secondly,
a lot of writers are stuck in a rut because they have priority issues.
Until
you learn to treat your craft with the awe and respect it deserves, you will
never beat the mediocre level. If you are one of those who take writing as a
random pastime game (unless your goal is not to get published or to master the craft)
be assured that your days as a writer are numbered. I just don't see it
happening.
Goals
mean everything. They are maps that point us to our dreams especially when we
have them written down. If you see your goals on paper - where/who you want to
be in five/ten years from now. And visualize your objectives, the short term
goals that evaluate your progress monthly, weekly, daily, in black and white
it's going to be near-impossible for fear of ridicule to penetrate your
fortified defense.
Get
your priorities straightened out. Writing is an adventure, the greatest of ‘em
all. You go on an adventure with your bags packed, faculties prepared for
whatever pops out from a corner in the woods.
Your writing periods should be
planned. Set apart a time to scribble a few words everyday. You may
have to squeeze time out of no time. Make it count.
Attend
these suggestions with diligence. Soon you will discover that the problem is
not talent related but an enthusiasm issue.
'Instead
of saying, "I want to be a writer," and then sitting around wishing I
were a writer, I’ve been really trying to throw myself into it. . . It’s taken
me a long time to get around to writing. I’m forty-one years old and this is my
first collection of stories. I don’t think I could have gotten to it much
earlier. . . '
The
words of Kevin Canty. I think we all could plunge ourselves into the
inspiration of these words in absolute abandon and allow the waves of
exuberance sweep us off the shores into the seas of deliberate prolificacy!
Merry
Christmas!
Keep
your pen bleeding!
Akpan
Posts
Amen! Talent is a crutch and inspiration is an excuse to avoid work. Skill can be fostered.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Amy,
DeleteAs Picasso said, "Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working." Sometimes, folks like doing it the other way around and wait for inspiration. That's wrong.
Thanks for visiting.