So You Want to Be a Writer

the man himself

Lately I've been in a writing slump. It's times like these that I wonder if I've ever had any talent at expressing myself, even though my dad (a writer) told me so. My words never come out the way I want them to, and if I try to coax them, they end up sounding stilted and forced. I always come back to this poem by Charles Bukowski, one of my favorites of all time. A line that comes back to me at times like these is, "if you're trying to write like somebody else, forget about it." I read many blogs by many gifted authors, and think, "Why can't I write like that?" But I already know the answer: because I'm not them. Hopefully someday I'll find my own voice. Until then, I have to wait patiently for it to roar out of me.

So You Want To Be A Writer

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

(image source)