One of the great gifts a writer can give to the world is to tell someone else’s story.
I learned this when I started ghostwriting: no credit, no glory, just the knowledge that without me, the story wouldn’t be told. It’s surprisingly satisfying.
If you’re still trying to write stories about yourself, I want to challenge you to try your hand at writing someone else’s story. Here are three reasons why…
For the last two-and-a-half months, I’ve been getting more and more into the work of L.L. Barkat, the poet and author of four books, including Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing and her book of poetry, InsideOut. Rumors of Water is a book writing in the style of Annie Dillard, which instantly makes me start salivating.
L.L. Barkat is a staff writer for The Curator, a culture magazine based in NYC, and also authors several blogs. My personal favorite of hers is Seedlings in Stone. You probably should subscribe.
I’m so excited to talk to her about creativity, poetry, and how to balance all those projects and dreams we all have. I hope you enjoy the interview!
You want to write more. Of course you do. That’s only natural. You’d like to finish that novel (or those three novels!). You’d like to write on your blog more than once a week, and do more guest posting. As you get deeper into writing, it seems like there’s always more to write.
You get an idea for a new book to write at least once a week.
You want to start a blog. You DO start a blog. Then, you get ideas to start three more!
People hear you’re a writer and ask you to write articles, newsletters, and blog posts for them.
The problem is after you get done with work or taking care of the kids, writing is the last thing you want to do. You can’t even muster the willpower to read a book, let alone write one. So you turn on the TV, put your feet up, and promise yourself, “I’ll write tomorrow.”
Eventually, you see through your petty promises and wonder, “Maybe this writing thing just isn’t for me. Maybe I’m not a writer after all.”
Count me as one of those people who think that the unfortunately late Kurt Vonnegut is a modern reincarnation of Mark Twain. His books and short stories are littered with barbed, humorous, and wickedly honest advice about the process of writing. Perhaps my favorite piece of wisdom that he bestows is this: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.
Of course, then he goes on to use one at the end of that same book, making the point that Rules only take us so far, even good rules. Without any further ado, my three favorite rules from Kurt Vonnegut. So it goes….
