Chasing Words

Writing

I can always write. I don't have writer's block. But I can't always write what I want to write. Or at least not the type of writing I want to do. Not always.

When I first started writing there was nothing funny in my writing. I wrote about serious or interesting stuff in my life. Then later, when I got lazy, I wrote nonsense. Or at least I thought it was. But then I saw that this nonsense made people laugh, and that's a good thing. There is not enough laughing in this world, and that is no laughing matter. There is not enough lol in this world and that is a sad fact. People need to find things to laugh about. I don't mind doing that at all.

But for me, I wanted to do more serious writing. And I did early on. I do have trouble doing it now like I did then. I am not sure why that is. When I think about it and about my favorite stories that I ever wrote, I think back to what was going on when I wrote them. I realized after a short while that all my favorite stories were written when I was going through tough or strange times. Every single one. I was right in the middle of things I would rather not have been in the middle of.

So that makes me wonder if that is the kind of thing that is necessary to write these things. I have heard of writers telling their best stories under extreme pressures. But really, who wants that? I just want to write. I want to tell my stories because I want to tell my stories. That's all I want. I don't want to have to be suffering to sit at a laptop and write something. That does not sound like a thing worth doing.

And it isn't the stories either. It's the writing. I think my stories about life, childhood, and my former police work are compelling. It's the writing that isn't compelling when I am not in the right frame of mind. It seems as if I am not in under some kind of stress I can't write a compelling story at all. And all at a time in my life when I am looking for less stress every day.

Let me know if you guys ever feel the same. I don't know what it takes to write good fiction. But for me, good non-fiction seems to require some type of added outsides influences to get the story written. I need to be going through something for it to flow. I hope that won't always be true.