Wednesday, August 27

So you want to be a writer…

so you want to be a writer
— by charles bukowski

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.

Here's my questions based on that beautiful piece...
Paul wrote in I Corinthians 9:16- For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

Calvin Miller says, “Everyone should have a ‘woe to me’…what is your ‘woe to you’?”

With those two thoughts in mind…and after reading that amazing piece below that Jason Oaks sent to me…can you answer the question, “What is your ‘woe to you’”?

Mark Nelson at 3:22 PM 2comments

2 Comments

at 9:23 AM  ragamuffinminister said...

'woe to me if i don't lose some weight'. kidding...sort of.

seriously,

'woe to me if i don't teach about Jesus'.

 

at 11:56 AM  Anonymous said...

My "woe to me" in a broad sense is as a writer. Woe to me if I don't write periodically.

I have a folder on my laptop called "Random Thoughts" and it is comprised of different pieces. Call is "journaling on steriods" if you want. Maybe I'll submit some of it one day to a Christian publication for consideration. Maybe I'll compile it over time and submit a book proposal. It may just stay on the laptop. Don't know.

I can certainly relate to Bukowski's piece. Know the feelings and the places he goes very well.

Jeff

 

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