Dear Writer,
The world needs your stories.
No, seriously.
People are frightened, work-worn, and weary right now. The world seems cruel at random, without explanation or context. But since the dawn of human culture, story has been harnessed to comfort, guide, inspire hope, and give context and meaning to our otherwise confusing and ambiguous lives.
If you’re a writer (and if you’re reading this, I’m guessing you are), you can probably pinpoint the first story that first changed your life. The story that challenged your worldview. The books that forever altered your way of thinking. Those are likely the books that inspired you to write. What if those writers you so admired had decided to abandon their big ideas before writing them? What if they had sagged their shoulders and allowed the world to tell them they weren’t doing anything worthwhile, to get a ‘real’ job, and stop indulging themselves? Where would they be today? Where would you?
Imagine if George Lucas had decided a space opera sounded too silly and far-fetched to bother creating. If Lin-Manuel Miranda had assumed no one would pay to watch a two-and-a-half hour rap about Alexander Hamilton. If J.K. Rowling had believed what the industry was telling her, that children only wanted to read about ‘real-life situations’ and not about a wizard school. What if they had given in to their doubts?
Perhaps your intention was never to write a life-changer. Perhaps it’s to escape and entertain. Still, reflect a moment on the aliveness, the catharsis, the understanding and healing you’ve personally achieved through your own writing. What if you will someday impart that same healing, joy, or enlightenment to someone else who reads your work? What if you already have?
Please don’t quit. Life seems dark, times are trying and stressful, and there are days when it feels impossible to go on. That’s exactly why you SHOULD go on.
Most writers quit when they feel like they’ve been crying their heart into the ocean and not even making so much as a ripple with their endless tears. I say keep weeping. Keep bleeding your tears onto the pages. Like drops in the ocean, you don’t know where your words are going, what shape they will take someday, whom they might touch. You could change the world quietly, without ever knowing it.
But I don’t have to tell you that. You already sense it from within. That’s because you are a writer. And this crazy world needs you now more than ever.
About the Guest Author
C.K. Brooke is an ACES Certified Editor and Associate Member. She is also an award-winning indie author of over a dozen books, published by 48fourteen, Limitless, and Called by the Heart. Since 2017, C.K. has edited for numerous independent authors, including #1 international bestselling author Mande Matthews, and publishing houses such as 48fourteen and The Parliament House.
Need an editor for your next book? She offers affordable, friendly, and prompt copy editing services for indies like you. View her profile and portfolio on Reedsy: https://reedsy.com/c-k-brooke and contact her to get started today at https://ckbrookewrites.wordpress.com/proofreading/.