I believe this is not only the real obstacle for the writers, but also for artists in general. But let’s focus in this opportunity in the field of the writers.
I hear many times the phrase “writer block”. It is known as the period that the writer is not capable to produce anything new to his work. It is thought that is due to a low period of creativity or because there’s a problem with the structure of the writing object that cannot be solved. They say this is the greatest enemy of the writer. I disagree.
I firmly believe that the worst enemy of the writer is not that. What has paralyzed so many writers, and has left many of them, stuck on the road, without they finish not even their first book or even discontinue their blogs, is an enemy that has been discussed little.It is not the lack of ideas. It isn’t a problem of plot, investigation.
The real enemy and obstacle in the work of a writer is the fear what readers think of their work. Fear that they dislike what they have created. Shame that readers will make fun of them or feel pity. Fear that they are subject to gossip.
One time I met a Canadian man who had major in english, with the goal of becoming a writer. When he graduated, he didn’t feel able to write anything. He decided to travel a lot around the world with the goal of feeding himself of experiences so he could write them in a future. He really did travel a lot. In one of those trips I met him. However, several years had passed since he had graduated and he hadn’t even started to write a short story. He even recognized the problem: to write, being fiction or not, makes the personality of the writer goes public, something he was very uncomfortable with.
I agree. The fears, prejudices, experiences of the writer always are reflected in the text. However, I think that it’s possible to overcome that fear. I believe I have had that worry sometime, but now in this point, I’ve overcome it.The readers will be able to see his personality, so they will note mine in what I write. However, will they really care so much? Do we really care about the personality of singers, actors, painters? Do we think 24/7 of them? Do we stop watching a Tom Cruise movie because of the outrageous things he says on the interviews?
I read an interview that they did with Gabriel García Márquez, when he was already the most successful writer in America Latina, and one of the most successful in the world. He said that writing for him had become in a job little pleasant,it had become somewhat suffering, because he felt in his words a big responsibility.
I disagree with that statement. The readers have the responsibility with their lives, no author can force them to do anything. What responsibility did he feel? Are the people necessarily going to modify his beliefs because of what he writes? Is the world going to be a worse place if he writes a bad novel?
I have received very good criticism, from my friends, about my articles and my novel. I also have received not very encouraging criticism. I have received the advice of a family member that I should forget about writing. Maybe some of the readers of this article might agree with that. It is good to get critics from both points of view. It all depends how we take them. The only thing I hope is not to refrain myself in what I write. The writers less restrained are the ones who have been the most outstanding.
I don’t believe writing is a contest of popularity, where one is expected to please the biggest number of people. No matter how “bad” it is what one writes, there’s always going to be some group of people that will like it.
I think it’s much more important to receive critics, negative or positive ones, than to receive none. Even if they are making fun or they really hate our work, at least a reaction is being generated.
Meanwhile I will continue with this blog, producing material without expecting to win any award,and keep enjoying writing for any cybersurfer in the world.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Forced investments
Let’s suppose the case that it would happen to me these things in the next few months:
-They fire me
-My girlfriend dumps me
-I lose my house because of a foreclosure.
Very well. I would consider these events as necessary setbacks. I wouldn’t even call them setbacks. I would call them investments. They just wouldn’t be voluntary investments, but involuntary investments.
Investment is defined as the voluntary act to put some money, capital or time into a business with the purpose that in a future time any of those will be recovered and a profit or benefit will be achieved
The investments that I mean in this article are those which escape our will. They are apparently negative events that we call them as “failures” “defeats, “loses”, “setbacks”. When any of those things happen to us we feel like we lose time, money, moral,etc. However, all these events can be transformed in very wise investments if we broad our vision.
If we have a job that we like, that give us a good income, and we receive the news that we are going to be fired, that will hurt. What we don’t know is that there can be a better job waiting for us and that it’s the ideal time to get it. It has been a forced investment. We will lose time and even money looking for another job, or creating our own business. However, everything that is spent can be recovered with gains.
Our failures are investments that we make. They take us time and many times money. But they are absolutely necessary to be able to succeed. If we really take them as lessons or like indicators of change, it will really be something that will profit from.
Julio Iglesias was a goalkeeper in an obscure football team in Spain, when he suffered a car accident that injured his back spine. While he recovered from his injuries at the hospital, he was given a guitar, which he played and found himself composing music. He discovered a new passion. After some years, he participated in a singing constest and later became a professional singer. To this date, he has sold dozens of millions of albums. For sure that accident was a painful investment, but a very profitable one.
Lee Iacocca is another example. Being the director of Ford for several years, was fired with no justification. After a while, he was offered the CEO job of Chrysler, a company very close to bankruptcy in the early 80s. In this job, however, he had much more freedom and power to do what he considered necessary to save the company. Not only he saved the company with his effective strategies, but he made it into a prosperous company. If he wasn’t fired from Ford, he wouldn’t have been able to make this legendary victory. His firing was a sad and disappointing moment, but in the end it became a good investment.
Even at the level of nations we can appreciate this. Before World War II, United States and the Soviet Union were two huge countries with an immense potential, but both were lethargied , economically depressed. Until they were forced to get involved into a war that they had done everything to avoid it. United States was attacked by Japan, suffering costly military losses. The Soviet Union was attacked by nazi Germany, suffering his army spectacular defeats and millions of soviet citizens died. Both countries despite everything they overcame these losses and when Germany and Japan were defeated, they became the two biggest world superpowers of the XX century. They had to pay a high price, but in the end they got huge privileges.
Many people, when something bad happen to them, they choose to give up, abandoning their ambitions and cursing their luck. The most probable thing is that they are being deceived by appearances. An intelligent investor doesn’t give up his project when it suffers a mishap on the road. On the opposite, he looks to solve it or waits that a better economic time comes. So we should also think when we are in the middle of a “forced investment” when times are not so positive.
The majority of times, when people resist necessary changes, something happens so they shift their mindset. That which happens can be a forced investment. For example: an stubborn smoker suffers and painful and dangerous disease, that makes him leave the habit of smoking.
Other examples: did my girlfriend dump me? I will find one that make me happier. Did they fire me? Excellent opportunity to try in another company or field. Couldn’t I pay for my mortgage and I lost my house?. I will feel more motivated to look for the way to make more money to buy another one. Do I have a serious disease and I’ve been told that I only have 2 months left? I can try to prove the doctors they are wrong, because I can live longer. Or if not, maybe being dead in this world I will find a much happier place in the next one.
It would be interesting to realize that if there is a “forced investment” right now in our lives. If there is one, let’s imagine how to make it in a profit. It’s the best we can do.
-They fire me
-My girlfriend dumps me
-I lose my house because of a foreclosure.
Very well. I would consider these events as necessary setbacks. I wouldn’t even call them setbacks. I would call them investments. They just wouldn’t be voluntary investments, but involuntary investments.
Investment is defined as the voluntary act to put some money, capital or time into a business with the purpose that in a future time any of those will be recovered and a profit or benefit will be achieved
The investments that I mean in this article are those which escape our will. They are apparently negative events that we call them as “failures” “defeats, “loses”, “setbacks”. When any of those things happen to us we feel like we lose time, money, moral,etc. However, all these events can be transformed in very wise investments if we broad our vision.
If we have a job that we like, that give us a good income, and we receive the news that we are going to be fired, that will hurt. What we don’t know is that there can be a better job waiting for us and that it’s the ideal time to get it. It has been a forced investment. We will lose time and even money looking for another job, or creating our own business. However, everything that is spent can be recovered with gains.
Our failures are investments that we make. They take us time and many times money. But they are absolutely necessary to be able to succeed. If we really take them as lessons or like indicators of change, it will really be something that will profit from.
Julio Iglesias was a goalkeeper in an obscure football team in Spain, when he suffered a car accident that injured his back spine. While he recovered from his injuries at the hospital, he was given a guitar, which he played and found himself composing music. He discovered a new passion. After some years, he participated in a singing constest and later became a professional singer. To this date, he has sold dozens of millions of albums. For sure that accident was a painful investment, but a very profitable one.
Lee Iacocca is another example. Being the director of Ford for several years, was fired with no justification. After a while, he was offered the CEO job of Chrysler, a company very close to bankruptcy in the early 80s. In this job, however, he had much more freedom and power to do what he considered necessary to save the company. Not only he saved the company with his effective strategies, but he made it into a prosperous company. If he wasn’t fired from Ford, he wouldn’t have been able to make this legendary victory. His firing was a sad and disappointing moment, but in the end it became a good investment.
Even at the level of nations we can appreciate this. Before World War II, United States and the Soviet Union were two huge countries with an immense potential, but both were lethargied , economically depressed. Until they were forced to get involved into a war that they had done everything to avoid it. United States was attacked by Japan, suffering costly military losses. The Soviet Union was attacked by nazi Germany, suffering his army spectacular defeats and millions of soviet citizens died. Both countries despite everything they overcame these losses and when Germany and Japan were defeated, they became the two biggest world superpowers of the XX century. They had to pay a high price, but in the end they got huge privileges.
Many people, when something bad happen to them, they choose to give up, abandoning their ambitions and cursing their luck. The most probable thing is that they are being deceived by appearances. An intelligent investor doesn’t give up his project when it suffers a mishap on the road. On the opposite, he looks to solve it or waits that a better economic time comes. So we should also think when we are in the middle of a “forced investment” when times are not so positive.
The majority of times, when people resist necessary changes, something happens so they shift their mindset. That which happens can be a forced investment. For example: an stubborn smoker suffers and painful and dangerous disease, that makes him leave the habit of smoking.
Other examples: did my girlfriend dump me? I will find one that make me happier. Did they fire me? Excellent opportunity to try in another company or field. Couldn’t I pay for my mortgage and I lost my house?. I will feel more motivated to look for the way to make more money to buy another one. Do I have a serious disease and I’ve been told that I only have 2 months left? I can try to prove the doctors they are wrong, because I can live longer. Or if not, maybe being dead in this world I will find a much happier place in the next one.
It would be interesting to realize that if there is a “forced investment” right now in our lives. If there is one, let’s imagine how to make it in a profit. It’s the best we can do.
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