“Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted.”
~Jules Renard
I‘m a writer. It makes no difference that I first picked up my pen just a year and a half back; a woman is no less a mother when her milk first begins to flow.
Writing, to me, is the music I make for a dance of my own design; the legacy I will one day leave of the life I lived. I am a writer because it is a sterling affair, each of those moments when I find the sound of swirling syllables speaking in a symphony born from the abyss of my soul; a tangle of thought unraveled upon the page revealing my inner self and then placing it on display for the reader as I stand back both bashful and proud.
I’m a writer because I mourn the brevity of our existence and am selfish enough to wish I might live through the best of my moments more than once. A born writer, I believe, is fortunate to inhabit more than a single existence. One life he lives firmly fixed in the reality swimming before him, along with the million or so versions waiting patiently at the opposite end of his mind’s eye, eager to reveal their own romantic record of yesterday.
Now the knowledge that I am a writer swims through my senses, deeply submerged and rarely rising for breath. I ponder at where it might take me. What worlds will I create and who will my mind manufacture to fill them?
For a writer, imagination is the only horizon.
For the dozen years preceding my life with a pen, I made my living with flowers. Perhaps it was there where I learned to manipulate beauty and discover I could take something simply beautiful and shape it into something breathtaking. I was fortunate to find myself in a shop with no shortage in its selection. I discovered my favorite flowers, combined them with colors that echoed, and found that nature itself was merely a suggestion.
I long to write like that. I would never wish to labor in a standard store with only two flowers in a half dozen colors, I want to wander the aisles among roses of every color.
Primary colors coalesce for the rainbow, but the remaining hues paint the world that lies beneath.
I want to write where every single sentence brings me closer to the essential truth of what makes me who I am, painting my life with the tip of a pen or stroke of a key, rinsing memory in vivid color, then carving a future from the words I create.
I’m a writer. Now, for the first time, I have a place to messy my desk with paper and pen and pull the best from inside me.
Welcome to the Inkwell.
Sean
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Sean, As long as you continue to write with heart you will do very well. I am both a fan and a happy client. Have fun.
Nora
“I long to write like that.”
Sean, you *do* write like that.
Reading your words is a pleasure, an inspiration. Don’t stop. Ever.
Sean,
You paint such beautiful pictures with your words. It really is hard to believe you’ve only been writing for the past year and a half. I’d be curious to know what made you suddenly realize you had a gift for writing and should make it your profession.
Hi Sean,
It’s lyrical music to my ears (your writing) and great feast to my eyes (the design)! Ever since I started reading blogs (a year ago) I’m literally been nurtured by some famous blogs and the contribution of the authors. Yours will be another one I look forward to each day! For nourishment, courage and fodder to write more!
I’m a writer. Thanks for the new blog and the inspiring writing, in advance!
Solomon
Well, looks like you didn’t wait until Wednesday.
Always fun to read your writing. I am a writer because I enjoy crafting words into the most piercing and effective message possible. It’s the selective taking from all 1 million English words and stringing them together in a way that is as convincing as possible that I enjoy.
Nora: Hi Nora! I have not yet learned how to write any other way, so at least for now we’re good to go. Thanks for being both, I appreciate it. You’ll love what Dave does as well. I’m a writer, but he’s a handful of aces.
Marc: (blushing) Thanks, Marc. I’m a writer. Don’t plan to. Ever.
Susan: Cindy finally told me to pick up a pen because I TALK WAY TOO MUCH! Once I started writing, I discovered I could do it without stopping. After getting through a rough draft of a 600 page novel in just under four months, we realized we should seriously consider taking it in a serious direction. I owe it all to Cindy.
Solomon: Thanks, man. That’s really kind. Courage is important. I know there are a few sites out there that have given that to me. I know nothing would make Dave and I happier than to pay that forward for our readers.
Bamboo: You know how eager us writers can be. I like that… “I’m a writer… crafting words into the most piercing and effective message possible.” Well said. When I first started writing I would always worry that I would say it all and then have nothing left to say. Now I now what a wholly ridiculous notion that actually is.
Gorgeous Sean, your writing is so evocative!
“placing it on display for the reader as I stand back both bashful and proud.”
Really struck a chord with me. I’m a writer too, and so glad you share your writing with the world.
I especially like, and can relate to, this:
“A born writer, I believe, is fortunate to inhabit more than a single existence. One life he lives firmly fixed in the reality swimming before him, along with the million or so versions waiting patiently at the opposite end of his mind’s eye, eager to reveal their own romantic record of yesterday.”
I’m a writer too. Glad you have a place to “messy your desk!”
Sean,
Unlike the formalities and rules we are often taught about it in schools, powerful writing is an expression of the soul, heart, and mind. And paying your “writing dues” in some class or job isn’t necessary. You are a writer because your writing grows and blossoms out of a festive and fertile soil that has always been a part of you. Cindy was the sun and rain that gave your first seedlings the energy to grow. Thanks to you both for the field of flowers now growing all over the Blogopolis!
“I’m a writer because I mourn the brevity of our existence” – I loved this sentence. I think all artists are thinkers and philosophers too.
Brilliance, pure brilliance. Why? This is why: “I am a writer because it is a stirling affair, each of those moments when I find the sound of swirling syllables speaking in a symphony born from the abyss of my soul.”
You could teach an amazing writing lesson. …just putting it out there.
Sean, I was going to paste one of you quotes from the post above (I even had it in my clipboard), but by the time I was finished reading the thing, I figured I’d have to quote the entire post. The whole thing was like an audible message. Like music that entered through my eyes and danced around in my mind. Awesome, my friend! Eric
Sean,
You are a wonderful writer to be sure. You write in such a descriptive way and can paint pictures with your words. I’m a writer and long to write like THAT! Great job and I love this site! Think I better subscribe now…
Tracy: I think that might have been the line that surprised me the most when I wrote that. It’s true. I feel so boastful when I’m done with a piece of writing and often can’t wait to share it with the world, but there is no doubt that other side that creeps up to whisper in my ear, “what if no one likes it? what if they laugh and point and see you as a fraud.” I guess that’s what makes us human.
Kristin T: That will totally do it to us, won’t it? Blogging means that we’re always in observation, waiting to see the next bit of life we can blossom into a few hundred words, or into 140 characters these days. : > )
Lori: I just sent your quote to Cindy. It will make her cry in a good way. That was a hard one for me to get over – the idea that I could operate in the absence of any sort of validating certificate to wave. I know better now and I believe that knowledge will allow me even more freedom.
Vered: I agree wholeheartedly. I’ve always considered myself a thinker and (I’m embarrassed to admit) a philosopher as well. It was the artist part that I was missing.
Dan: Oh, it’s on the plate my man. For young and old alike, it’s on the plate.
Eric: Thanks, Eric. For the email too. It just bounced in the box and I read the opening from the top of the menu bar. I’m glad you liked it. I’ll actually be swiping one of your comment quotes for later use. Thanks!
Sean; do you really think you’re being a fraud? I mean are those words crossing your mind? Because I can tell you now, there are only two ways I know of that a writer could ever be a fraud:
1) Claiming authorship of a piece of work h/she had nothing to do with
2) Outright lying.
My friend, you are no fraud.
There’s also nothing embarrassing about being philosophical, Bruce Lee studied it in University, heck he wrote a bestseller on the topic. I get what you mean though, for some reason I get a bit embarrassed about talking about my spirituality.
cool new place to follow your hearts, congrats to both!
Keith: Hey there Keith, we’re thrilled to have you. I had no idea I could write like that until I did. My best advice is to write like you speak. Then you will find your most natural voice.
Marc: It isn’t that I really have that specific feeling, it’s more that right before another person reads your words, it is as though your are standing naked before them. It is at that moment when you are most vulnerable and your soul is exposed. Of course not all writing is that way. I’ve never felt vulnerable after I pressed send on an SEO lawnmower article, but when I’m a writer, and really laying it out, sure I feel a bit soft.
Trina: Thanks, Trina. It’s terrific to see you!
“Primary colors coalesce for the rainbow, but the remaining hues paint the world that lies beneath.”
Sean, this post has really touched a lot of people. Over and over people comment on the part of your post that spoke intimately to them. Maybe it’s because as fellow writers, we can identify with the emotions and processes involved in creating a written piece. You capture those feelings in a way that makes us wish we’d have crafted it first. The quote above is the one that whispered to my spirit.
You said, “Now the knowledge that I am a writer swims through my senses…” I think a lot of writers have that “eureka” moment when they first begin to think of themselves as writers, when they first “know” that this is what they are meant to do.
I was an unaware writer most of my life. I was constantly writing, whether in my journal or as part of my jobs, or simply in always having a new story floating around in my brain. Yet, I never thought of myself as a writer. Teachers and professors encouraged me in my writing. Friends asked me to write poems for them or effectively word their resumes. Different organizations would ask me to give speeches. Yet “being a writer” never occurred to me, mainly because I perceived writers as people who got *paid* to write. I had only gotten paid to write twice in my life–$20 once for a magazine article and $250 in a short story contest. Nope, I was no writer.
About a year ago, I read an email that changed my view. A person was asking his mentor, “I want to be a writer. What can I do to become a writer?” The mentor replied, “What have you written?” The young man replied, “Nothing yet.” The mentor said, “Writers write. Painters paint. Sculptors sculpt. If you would be a writer, you must write.” How simple is that? Write every day. You are a writer. And an exquisite one you are, Sean.
What a privilege to know you so intimately and see your words and hard work come to fruition. I believe in you, I am in awe of you and every day you never cease to impress me or make me laugh. My heart swells with happiness to know the world gets to have a view of how fantastically your cranium operates. Congratulations. You ARE a writer and you ARE doing it well.
Pleasure to know you, pleasure to read you! Great ‘launch’ piece, Sean.
Randi: I can’t even fathom where my life would be right now had I not started writing when I did. I’m certain I would be happy as I was happy before I wielded a plume, and I’m sure I would be driven as I have been so since as long as I can remember, but there is such a sense of purpose to my direction right now that I have never felt before. I’m fortunate to have someone like Cindy to believe in me and someone as creative as Dave to help me tend to my muse.
Cindy: What can I say? Thanks for being such a constant. It’s meant EVERYTHING. I am a writer, but you helped me find it.
Janice: It is a pleasure to know you as well, Janice. Thank you for being a constant as well. Your launch piece was wonderful as well. Congratulations on getting launched. It isn’t easy.
Great looking blog! It looks so awesome!
What a lovely ode to writers everywhere. I certainly empathize with everything in this essay, especially the part about being selfish enough to want to live through the best moments more than once. Nice! Congrats on the new site; it looks awesome and I love the tagline
Karen: Hiya, Karen! It’s great to see you beneath my other roof. Yes, Dave’s work is stunning. He knocked himself out on this one no doubt.
Melissa: Thanks! The essay was mine, the tagline was ours, and the look was all Dave. Creative collaboration at its finest. : > )
“I’m a writer because I mourn the brevity of our existence and am selfish enough to wish I might live through the best of my moments more than once.”
And I mourn the wasted time I spent reading meta bloggers when I should be reading writers of your caliber. If I were much younger I’d say I wish I could grow up and learn to write like you do.
I feel blessed that I’ve known you through your writing online and this special blog.
Hi Jan, that’s a really cool thing to say. Thanks. I appreciate all your compliments and support.
Sean’s last blog post..April