As I was saying. Since announcing that I was writing a story (i.e. longer than a blog, and about other people than me - and my family, pets and bugs) - so as soon as that became modestly known, I discovered something entirely unexpected and fascinating.
People started dropping into the conversation the fact that they too had written a novel. Or were writing a novel. Or had tried writing a novel. Or would be writing a novel. A friend said he was writing not one, but three. Almost done, almost done. Someone else was on the verge of hiring a ghost writer to finally tell the story that had been nibbling at his insides since that night in Peru...
And I had no idea I was living among writers!
When I first had a look at the NaNo site, there was a lot of (pep)talk about getting that story out... the story, they said in lyrical terms, that we all hold hidden deep within us, like a magical pearl and so on, cue the violins.
A few days later, I am startled to agree - we are all writers. We are all struggling to get that story out. Businessmen I know write spy adventures. Teachers are half-way through trilogies. Consultants try their hand at erotica. I now know for a fact that everyone - from landowner to hairdresser - is writing their memoirs. We self-publish amply and routinely, by the sounds of it. We have been taking part in the National Novel Writing Month for a decade. And naturally, we all have blogs.
What a revelation! What a society of writers we live in! Is it progress, or an anomaly? Do we read less, but write more? And if we write more and read less, do we ever wonder: who will read us?
People started dropping into the conversation the fact that they too had written a novel. Or were writing a novel. Or had tried writing a novel. Or would be writing a novel. A friend said he was writing not one, but three. Almost done, almost done. Someone else was on the verge of hiring a ghost writer to finally tell the story that had been nibbling at his insides since that night in Peru...
And I had no idea I was living among writers!
When I first had a look at the NaNo site, there was a lot of (pep)talk about getting that story out... the story, they said in lyrical terms, that we all hold hidden deep within us, like a magical pearl and so on, cue the violins.
A few days later, I am startled to agree - we are all writers. We are all struggling to get that story out. Businessmen I know write spy adventures. Teachers are half-way through trilogies. Consultants try their hand at erotica. I now know for a fact that everyone - from landowner to hairdresser - is writing their memoirs. We self-publish amply and routinely, by the sounds of it. We have been taking part in the National Novel Writing Month for a decade. And naturally, we all have blogs.
What a revelation! What a society of writers we live in! Is it progress, or an anomaly? Do we read less, but write more? And if we write more and read less, do we ever wonder: who will read us?
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