Have you ever thought about writing a book?
1.Because You Can
The list of excuses for not writing is long. Why do anything in life? Because you can. Don’t fall into the trap of underestimating yourself. Selling yourself short will lead to a sense of dissatisfaction with yourself that some find it difficult to come to terms with. Some of the excuses for not writing are ones that I have used in the past. Apologies in advance for the language, but this is what I would say to myself, welcome to my brain.
‘I don’t have time’ – bullshit, you have loads of free time to go on your phone and watch Netflix.
‘I was terrible at English in school’ – bullshit, writing is about communicating, if you can get your idea across then there is plenty of technology for getting the grammar and spelling correct.
‘I have nothing to write about’ – bullshit, it doesn’t have be the next War and Peace it can just be a letter, a poem, a journal entry or a short story. Write about anything, only for yourself to read.
‘It is too difficult’ – bullshit, you can do it, use a laptop or if you find physically writing difficult use voice recognition to get your words transcribed for you.
You can write, but if your goal of writing at the beginning is to be finished writing a book then you need to change that goal. You will set yourself up to fail if that is the approach. Writing a book especially for a beginner takes time. It would be like starting to run and setting out to complete a marathon with no intermediate goals. Set smaller more manageable writing goals, one blog post, a journal entry or 500 words this may lead to your enjoying writing and that could lead to a book one day.
2.Legacy
My mother knits, my brother writes music and my sister is an author. The link between those three activities is the outcome is tangible evidence of their existence. Someday we die, and someday the world may forget our face but maybe we can leave a legacy behind that future generations will treasure, even more so than Instagram selfies and twitter beefs.
How many of us, if we look at the sum of our existence, have left a legacy that we are proud of? Of course, legacy doesn’t have to be physical like books, art or music but it is one way to leave your mark on the world. The writing of a book leaves part of your mind behind that people normally wouldn’t have access to. You might not be aware of this while writing but you could be sharing your wisdom and values with the world. You could affect lives, maybe one person will become inspired by what you have written and go on to achieve when otherwise they would fail. This could be your legacy.
The problem with legacy is that you are not around to bask in its glory. What’s the point then of writing for legacy? The point is just that. You are writing not satisfy your ego, become wealthy or receive adulation. You are writing to pass on your thoughts that otherwise would vanish. It doesn’t have to be some fancy giant hardback dissertation, it can be a letter to your grandchild to open when they are 21, a poem for your husband, words of advice for your son or just an open letter to the world. Write what you have learned and stories you want to see live on.
Go write, don’t let your thoughts, stories and advice end with you. Think of how much sage advice and witty stories are lost to time as they weren’t transcribed. Maybe when you feel you have got the hang of writing you can put your writings together to form a book, why not?
3.Creativity is Wonderful
The satisfaction in creating. There are many awesome feelings in life, I am sure you can think of one or two (wink wink) and creating is one of them. The joy you can get from making something where otherwise there would be nothing is a step on the way to happiness. Some would call it pursuing your passion, others call it your hobby maybe just call it living.
Humans have got an amazing thing between our ears, often we don’t use it to its full ability. We may have become quite good at using some of it during our time in school, but have we ever tested its full abilities? Your brain is like a muscle, it can do amazing things when you keep training it. If you practice taking weight on your hands and keep pushing your limits eventually you will end up handstand walking. If you push the limits of your creativity and keep using it you may create a masterpiece, your masterpiece.
Perhaps your masterpiece could be a book, it is just one of the things your brain could create. Linking your thoughts directly to words on a page. The test of your brains abilities to sustain ideas, develop thoughts and create language.
Why not write and why not start today? Don’t end up regretting the things you haven’t done in life.
FIGHT LAZINESS 