In 2012 I participated in
and won a writing challenge sponsored by NAIWE - National Association of Independent Writers and Editors.
You had to write a series of short articles over the course of 5 days but I unfortunately can only find one of the five.
It's fun to find older stuff you've written...and really, really hard to not want to edit it!
The challenge for the particular day I wrote this was:
Writers craft words into memorable phrases, stories, poems and plays. What writers make your heart sing? Why?
Here's what I wrote for that:
Those of us in love with words all have our favorite
wordsmiths; the writers who have the ability to let us see with our mind's eye
and feel as if it whatever is happening is somehow happening to us
personally. We've all seen the lists of
someone's favorite authors and it is almost always populated with the big guns,
the rock stars of the literary world -- Twain, Austen, Hemingway, etc. -- or whomever
is currently topping the best seller list.
I would be lying if I denied my appreciation for these
masters but if my personal truth be told, I'm far more enamored with the lesser
known writer, the young writer, the writer who sits awake night after night
pounding out the words, head in the clouds, heart filled with passion.
Recently a story was circulating on the Internet about a
renowned violinist playing unrecognized in the subway. The gist of the story was that here was this
famous musician whose performances regularly sell out at $100 per seat, yet he
was almost completely ignored as he played in the subway. Had he sent out a press release and charged
admission, his subway show would have been the talk of the town with everyone
clamoring for a ticket.
We are a starstruck society.
But what are we missing as we look up to the chosen few that
we decide to idolize?
In our certainty that there will never be another (insert
famous author name here), I cannot even imagine the talent and potential
greatness that is being overlooked.
If authors themselves were sold in stores, I'd much rather
purchase mine at the thrift shop instead of some high end, glitzy emporium
where 'anybody who's anybody' shops for overpriced, mass-produced
meaninglessness.
Besides, treasures are often found at thrift shops.
Stars, super or otherwise, are not always visible. Sometimes it's up to us to go seek them out.
