A Writer’s Purpose

From my perspective, of course. I have been thinking about this a lot as I navigate this winding road of my current journey. I understand my purpose, which at times can be entirely self-serving, and it takes a quote like the one shown in the header to re-frame my thoughts. The challenge is not to create, that is honestly the easy part. The challenge is to overcome insecurity, doubt, imposter syndrome, and a whole lot of other negative vibes and share it. This quote helps me to move past all the negativity and boil down to my desire to color the world around me. I’m ready to put myself out there, which is strange to say considering I have 6 published books, but these pieces are not something you will necessarily experience in my works of fiction.

As I write this, my thoughts go to a post I wrote about grief and loss. You can link to it here if you missed it. Basically in a nutshell, as I think about all the books I’ve brought to life, I think about all those that haven’t really ever seen the light of day. Things that I’ve written for one thing or another that served their purpose then languished away in a file cabinet or tote in storage. There are also things that I’ve written that show other facets of me that only the closest of my friends and a few contest judges have ever read. I go back to the pain I felt as I wrote that post about grief and realized I was doing the same thing as some of the other writers I mentioned. It’s time for me to change that.

The publishing world is wide and varied, and you can spend a lifetime trying to figure how each book and author fits into the massive machine it has built. A machine that has aged and needs a bit of grease from my observation, but I am a newbie and am just adding my cog to the works. What I learned quickly is that traditional publishers want “new” unpublished works, which prevents you from publishing in any format while you are trying to find your book/essay/poem a home. I have some short pieces that I’m pretty proud of that I haven’t been able to find a home for, and I’ve decided that its time to share them here on my blog.

These are pieces that aren’t necessarily romance, my tastes in literature is varied, and some of these stories are deeply personal and symbolic. They are often times my way of understanding the world around me and articulating it in the only way I know how. They might be how I resolved a crisis, or said goodbye to a loved one, and I don’t want to leave this world without them being seen. That is where the quote from Pablo comes in.

I know he wasn’t necessarily a writer, although I would argue he was to some extent since a lot of artists kept journals, but his quote speaks to any creative pursuit. I keep coming back to this quote and it resonates with me now more than ever. Perhaps because of the grief that continues to show itself in the families surrounding me, or perhaps because of my own thoughts of mortality. Or it could be that I no longer want to see those pieces sitting in a drawer, when they could be enjoyed by others. Bottom line, what this means is that I have put a short story/essay tab on my website under “Writing Cave” which will be a place for me to post these homeless pieces. It’s my way of bringing together all the parts of me that have been scattered for so long.

I hope this post finds you happy and healthy, and if you are a creative, I hope it inspires you to look at your body of work and find the areas where you might be able to share your gift. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe 100% that an artist should be paid for the work they create, but I also believe that there are pieces that aren’t necessarily “marketable” but that can still touch a reader’s life in some way. It is my hope that is what you will find in my future posts under this new tab.

I will be posting my first story this month, and hope you will come back every so often to see if I have anything new to say. You can also follow my blog if you are so inclined, which will bring my posts right to your inbox. As I get the stories cleaned up and ready for company, they will come out as posts, but will eventually all be linked here, similar to what I do with my Soundtrack of my Life, and Mythical Creature Monday posts.

In the meantime, be good to yourself and those around you, and happy reading! XO