What goes on in a writers mind?

Salamu

It seems as if it has been a long time since I have updated this blog. And indeed it has.

Sometimes a hiatus is the best thing for a writer. I don’t think a person who is not a writer genuinely appreciates the troubles that writers go through on a daily basis. The period of inspiration where you are dead to the world and only the vision of a beautiful naked lady can draw your attention away from your computer screen, the periods of non inspiration where you cannot write for love or money because the words just wont flow. Then there are periods when random words pop into your mind; you know that these words are gold, provided they are put together in a sentence that makes sense. And herein lies the challenge, how do you make sense out of randomness. 

I suppose that it is only fitting that I announce my introduction with a post on the demons that writers struggle with on a day-to-day basis. 

I think one of the biggest secrets of being a writer is that you are putting your heart and soul into essentially a piece of work that is a gamble. You don’t know whether the audience you want to write to will necessarily appreciate your work. If you talk to a number of people which jobs they think carry the highest risk, a journalist/writer is far down on that list. I strongly feel it should be higher up, especially of you are an author who essentially becomes unemployed if your book is not accepted.  Sure there will be an argument that says that you do not have the lives of people in your hands as a lawyer, judge or surgeon would have, but that doesn’t mean that the pressure is less. 

One of the other challenges that need to be overcome is the perception that people have of writers/journalists. When you tell people that you are a writer, the most common response is so when are you going to get a real job? This irritates me a bit because granted everyone can write, but not everyone can write well. There is a little thing that people do not know about authors, they have deadlines to meet. So I challenge people who say this to me to spend a day in my shoes. To wake up in the morning and produce five thousand or ten thousand words by the end of the day while keeping consistent to story flow, character developments, story arc’s, good grammar and a style which is amenable to readers. I bet it doesn’t sound so easy now does it? When you tell people that you are a journalist, the most common response is so all that you write is lies? There are certain degrees of truths, and a lot of the truth can be lost in translation and the way that a journalist presents a story. But no journalist wants to stand before a judge staring down the barrel of a massive fine; so no, not all of the stuff that a journalist writes is a lie. I am currently a journalist, and I can tell you honestly that 100% of most articles are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. There are those journalists in the world who do make a living off fabricating articles, and yes they do spoil the apple cart for good journalists. But we need to make a distinction between gutter journalism and conventional journalism. 

The next challenge is the unpredictable nature of inspiration. Writers block is not a myth, believe me. There have been many times where I stare at a blank Microsoft Word document thinking where the hell do I begin? And there are also days as a writer that you just know deep down in the recesses of your soul that you must just not even go near a computer. But then there are times when inspiration overcomes you like a tidal wave, a primal force of nature. You will be woken up at two o’clock in the morning overflowing with words that just need to be put down on paper. The best way to describe it is that inspiration does not have a switch, it is like electricity flow in Africa, inconsistent in nature. There is never a direct and consistent flow of inspiration, it is always alternating. To illustrate how inconsistent in nature it is, I shall tell you about myself; if I am writing about a topic I want to write about, I can sit down and bang out five thousand words without to many interruptions, and I can do it in a relatively short time given that it is five thousand words we are talking about. But if I am writing on something I am asked to write about, I need to take short breaks inbetween, and it can take me a whole day to produce two thousand words. 

Finally, I can tell you one of the challenges that we are thankfully not guilty of, and that is arrogance. Yes we know a lot about different topics, but we need to have an open minded approach to a number of topics or else we will just be pissing into the wind. A journalist or writer that doesn’t know quirky facts that other people wont even dream of knowing is not worth anything, it is like a supermodel women who has a below average intelligence, worthless to many people.  

At the end of the day I am back, and I will be posting more and more. Hope I want missed to much! 

Mei jua daima kuwa kabla yenu, na vivuli nyuma yako!