Wotcher!
What do you think? I thought I’d experiment with different greetings before I settle on something. You know how quickly these things can become a trademark. I want to make sure I get it right. This particular one is borrowed from Harry Potter’s wonderful character Nymphadora “don’t call me Nymphadora” Tonks.
Anyhoo, guys, I’ve just signed up for two courses from WordPress University. Figured it might give me inspiration and some useful advice. Already received two assignments. They are pretty similar so what I’ll do is I’ll stick ’em in the salad tosser, mix ’em up and pour the result into one post.
The first assignment is all about introductions. Introducing yourself to the world. Hello, world! The second one asks the harrowing question: why do you write? So here I go, trying to address these two topics, in a freestyle, no plan, just talking to you casually sort of way.
I was looking around for a quote I’ve heard many times, from a lot of people, in a lot of rephrasings, paraphrasings, and other assorted phrasings, and I found it. It’s apparently from W. Somerset Maugham.
We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.
It’s quite possible that many others have said the same thing, or something similar. It seems to be a popular thing to think and an even more popular thing to say.
Mr W. Somerset Maugham, with all due respect…
No. I do not have to write. There are about a million other things I could do, probably. Probably I could stop writing if I wanted to. “Having to” sounds important. It sounds heroic, noble, excrutiating. Like you’re tearing bits of your soul out and just smearing it on paper with all the poète maudit pathos befitting the occasion.
The thing is, though, doing something because you “have to” do it isn’t all that amazing. In fact it’s rather dull. It doesn’t require dedication, or any kind of decision on your part. You just have to do it. End of.
Me? Yours truly? I write because I want to. I decided to write, and every time I sit at the computer with my hands on the keyboard, it’s a choice I’ve made, renewed every day, fresh, joyful. I don’t have to. I want to.
I want to share my thoughts and create emotions. I want to talk about everything that’s important to me, and learn about what’s important to others. Creating stories is a wonderful thing to do. You get to connect with your audience in a very unique way that, as an introvert with social anxiety, I can’t achieve any other way.
When people come up to me and say “you made me cry with this scene” (it’s happened, I write horrible stuff… oops) or “I hate this character, he’s a jerk!” or “that was hilarious,” it makes my heart pound. It’s the closest you’ll ever get to mind control. How awesome is that? Call it a God complex if you want. Maybe it’s a Writer complex. Actually, I don’t mind the sound of that.
Hi, world! I’m Gwen, and I have a Writer complex.
And with this, I shall leave you with this other, much better if you ask me, quote by Mr W. Somerset Maugham:
There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
Gwen’s Writings 