What makes a writer? Beyond sales figures and rankings on best-seller lists, what other measures can we realistically consider?
Recently an article in a nice little neighborhood publication revealed that I'm a "secret" writer myself. One of the greatest discoveries after friends and neighors learned this was the number of people who came up to me to say they liked to write, too, and many of them had started stories of their own. Their biggest problem after that was finishing their story, something I think most writers can understand, closely followed by a reluctance to share their work, either for fear of criticism or simply because they didn't know of any appropriate outlet.
By revealing I liked to write, too, I became a first-step outlet for several writing friends, something I found exciting. One friend even gave me a notebook beautifully filled in long-hand, written in pencil, and which he confided was one of at least dozens of notebooks he'd filled with writing, without showing anyone else. I felt honored, and a bit like an explorer given a secret map to an undiscovered new world.
This particular friend works a job with irregular hours, and often, alone in the dead of night, his pen (or pencil) became an outlet and confidant. Another, much younger friend, of middle school age, shared that she likes to write, too, but has trouble finding the right way to end her stories.
The outpouring of people who have so much to communicate was amazing and rewarding. It's astounding to think of all the stories that are out there, remaining untold for a variety of reasons from lack of confidence to the absence of a supportive community of story-tellers to offer their encouragement.
Without attempting anything so lofty as to provide all of that to other writers, I'd simply like to give a glimpse of some of these "other people's stories" here, to encourage, perhaps, and to inspire others to overcome their own personal challenges and to give voice to to their own writing.
My hope in the coming days is to share some opening passages of friends' unfinished stories. To bring them to light, if only in this small way, and to give others the chance to learn from and to encourage their peer "secret" writers out there, all around us.
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned...
