Confronting This Question Will Make You a More Consistent Writer
It’s a question that has stopped you and so many others before
The statement: no one tortures you more than you torture yourself is an objective truth we should never take for granted, especially if you want to be a writer.
For the past five years, each time I wrote something, I deleted it. I dragged myself down until I felt I wasn’t good enough to write about any topic. There was always something else lacking that I needed to know. But more importantly, I kept asking myself, who the hell am I to write this?
I am a nobody. And to be honest, we are all nobodies somewhere. But this doesn’t matter; it is just a fact we should remember to keep us from getting cocky.
Like most writers, I suffered from the good old imposter syndrome. Till one day, a voice (Not the Biblical Moses type) came to me after I attacked myself with that “Who the hell am I to write this?” junk.
“I am a nobody who thought about this idea. And I will publish it because I want to. I don’t want to keep it in my head anymore. Because if I do, it will be like pee stored in a bladder; painful to keep but eventually goes down the toilet.”
Look, you could be that guy who has the guts to create something or be the drunk uncle 20 years later who sounds smart when he is high, but no one wants to listen to him because he didn’t achieve anything with the knowledge he got. People will ask why you didn’t develop something — a book maybe, but all you will give them are excuses.
Most aspiring artists already know they must start creating to find peace in their heads. They consistently postpone out of fear of not knowing enough and looking like a poser. But here is the thing, man, you are running out of tomorrows. There are worse things to be afraid of if you keep procrastinating. (Check out this article by Thomas-Plummer, it’s dark, and it will probably depress you, but it will save you. He has another great piece there New Writers Quit Too Soon)
Guess what? We are all posers somehow. All the world is a stage, and all the men are actors. Bla Bla Bla! Almost everyone on the internet is talking out of their ass! Why shouldn’t you? Share that. Package it to inspire. There will never be a time when you know everything about a topic. Start where you are.
About that fear of being ignored.
Share what you have to the best of your ability. If people like it, that’s cool; if they ignore it, tough luck; if they hate it, then at least you made them feel something. The only certainty is that we have the opportunity to cover our side of the story.
In my first Medium post, I wrote, “To notice each other is to declare war, but art is the peace treaty we present to the world.” It didn’t make sense at the time. The article was a series of rants about topics that haunted and confused me. I don’t know where it came from, but I wrote it anyways.
I only got to figure it out later.
The ideas in your head are practically like living animals. They fight for dominance. Once an idea pops up in your head, another one rises to crush it. And the winner in that battle assimilates the other.
However, you become the casualty when ideas grind each other down in your head without a platform for resolution. You become indecisive, and your self-esteem suffers. That is why the longer you bottle something you need to say, the more you doubt your ability to communicate it. In the end, you close yourself up, and your thoughts amount to nothing.
Writing and sharing your art is how you develop possibilities and worlds where ideas coexist in your head. Whether good or not, it provides speculative treaties for the soul’s reconciliation with the universe. While this is mainly seen in fiction writers, it also applies to nonfiction.
But you must know there is the highest purpose in content creation.
As quoted by Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy, Richard Wagner says, “I am convinced that art is the highest task and the essential metaphysical capability of this life.” He implied that you are meant to be a creator of some art, not just babies. You will become transcended after completing an entire body of work. It establishes you as you build it, and you are better for it in the end.
Here is a funny story about Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy.
It was first published in 1872 and was Nietzsche’s first book. He wrote in the book’s introductory criticism to a later edition that he hated the book. But, he mentioned that he was proud of the confidence and boldness the younger version of him had in publishing it.
You will probably hate your writing too at first. But someday, you will find it amusing and be grateful for it. If Nietzsche, the most profound writer ever, hated his writing at first, who are you to expect a masterpiece on the first go?
Next time an idea pops into your head to say hi, don’t bullshit. Get working. Share it anywhere and everywhere you can. I don’t mean to be condescending, but do you feel you have something better to do?
