(photo by Tabitha Bird)
"Feeling unpopular as a child gets one in shape for serious writing.
Misfits spend a lot of time alone. Future writers use that time to make up imaginary playmates.
As outsiders, the develop a habit of observing others.
And being rejected by other kids
not only fills young authors-to-be with grievances in need of redress
but it gets them used to being disliked.
That puts them in a very strong artistic position.
Putting people off feels like business as usual."
~ Ralph Keys (The Courage to Write)
People have often told me I am intuitive. Now you know why.
I've spent a great portion of my life observing. After a while I was actually surprised if I fitted in. The edge of the group became so familiar.
Here's the thing, I've spent so much of my childhood and adulthood being alone that doing things my own way has become second nature. Being unpopular doesn't scare me since it's not really an issue to begin with. I'm already firmly camped on that ground.
It's not that I don't want to belong, I do. But since I often find myself on the outside of things I'm left to take creative risks with my life that don't carry with them debilitating fear of ostracising myself from others. I am left to be myself in my words, in my writing and in my living. It has served me well. The more time I spend with me the more I find out about who Tab is and what she really wants to say.
I highly recommend a bout of loneliness for sheer honesty in your writing. Get with you and find out what makes you tick. Find out what you would say if no one else was a round and then... say it.
In my humble little opinion readers appreciate the authentic writer. Eventually I've found myself surround by others who live as though no one else is watching. There's freedom in that. I get to be myself. They get to be themselves. And suddenly I have a friend, perhaps two or three who don't need to take the social temperature of everyone around them before they speak... or in the case of a writer, before they put words on paper.
What about you? Am I the only loner out there?
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