Don’t Let Anyone Stop you from Writing

As writers we are prone to despair  and feelings of insecurity.  A bad review, a rejection from an agent, harsh editorial feedback, even unfavourable comments from critique partners can plunge us into a prolonged state of despair. There are moments when we wonder why do we write, when all we encounter in the initial stages of our careers are roadblocks and dead ends.

Are we sadists who put ourselves up for rejection and scrutiny day after day via our writing. The entire world gets a close peek into our thought process, into our sensibilities,  into our  feelings through the characters we create. Though we may be extremely private individuals, we do live extremely public lives because of our work.

In this scenario we have to be our biggest supporters, have to constantly motivate ourselves and have immense faith in our abilities and stories, else we will be close to literary annihilation. Though we are allowed a bit or maybe even a lot of self pity, we have no other choice but to lick our wounds and get on with the job in hand: our WIP.

I read this beautiful saying “ If I have lost the self confidence in myself, I have the Universe against me” – Ralph W Emerson. It applies to us writers perfectly. If we lose confidence in ourselves, in our stories, in our characters, in our settings, then  not only  are we doing a grave injustice to ourselves, but we are  also cheating ourselves. This is  a God given talent, each one of us has  unique stories that we must and should share with the world.  Rejections and criticisms should not deter us, infact they should strengthen our resolve to tell the best story that we can. To turn those detractors into our biggest supporters should be our aim, and we should resolve to do so.

Practically every writer I know has faced rejection and braved harsh criticism to churn out words which have enthralled readers worldwide. What kept them going was their faith in their stories and a belief that they could and would do it.

Each and every story that is currently residing in our hearts is  awaiting its tryst with inspiration. Someone somewhere, maybe in a remote corner of the world  is waiting to be inspired by our words, someone is waiting to be entertained by it, someone is waiting to bond with the characters. Do we have a right to deprive those people of inspiration, entertainment or bonding? Even if our words motivate and inspire only a handful of people, or entertain the same number, isn’t that much more than what we hoped for when we typed that first word. So, don’t let anyone stop you from writing as you never know who you will Inspire with your story.

Doesn't the thought that someone is waiting for our story/book make us pull out  our WIP with renewed passion,  make us want to give it all that we can. Don’t we have a commitment to that person waiting eagerly for our collection of words?

Have you ever felt despaired, wondered why you were writing when all you encounter is closed doors. How do you cope with those  days? What keeps your faith intact? Please share. I am sure we all will be inspired by it.

P.S. Few of my writing friends  in India were depressed by the rejections piling up. I hope this post will motivate them and everyone else  to keep writing.