It’s time.
I’ve been honored to fill the Second Friday slot here at the RMFW blog for nearly four years. This will be my last post.
Over the years I’ve watched as the indie movement has grown and matured. I’ve watched RMFW struggle with the clash of cultures and contributed my share to the clash in what I hope have been positive ways. I’ve offered advice based on my experience and thoughts about the state of the indie world. With this, my 47th post, I leave you with this final thought.
We are – first – writers.
Some of us are new, still lining up in the publishing gates and trying to figure out how to navigate the track—or even if we should. Some of us are seasoned professionals who’ve run the furlongs times uncounted. A few of us make our living from the stories we tell. All of us are writers first.
Without the writers there are no publishers—self or otherwise. Without the writers there are no stories recorded so that they can be read aloud as audiobooks or printed on paper or rendered on screens. Without us—without the writers—we lose a piece of our soul to the void when stories go untold, unrecorded in that brief span we each claim but cannot measure until it ends.
Without the writers the world would be a much poorer place. Socrates bemoaned the invention of the written word because he saw the end of the world. He worried that man would be robbed of reason because he would depend too much on the written word that he would lack the tools needed to reason effectively. Ironically, the only reason we know of Socrates’s concern is because Plato wrote them down for later generations to read. Socrates was correct in his own way. The world he knew ended when we gained the ability to record our stories and pass them forward in time for later generations—a legacy we each inherited, for good or ill.
We stand on the shoulders of all the writers that came before. The giants and the small. The Shakespeares and the Sewells. The writers responsible for the books you love and the books you hate. Even the ones you had to read in school and hated only to read in later life and re-consider. We follow in their footsteps. We stand on their shoulders and they stand beside us as we will stand beside those who come after.
All of us.
Because we are – first – writers.
So, write on.
Image credit:s”Last call, drink up.” by Anxious223 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
I’ve loved your column and don’t think I’ve missed many over the years. Thank you so much. I am really sad to see it end but I’m grateful for all your wisdom.
Thanks, Shannon.
You’ve written 47 informative, thoughtful articles, and you must be acknowledged for your dedication to this particular, mostly peculiar art. Thank you.
Thanks for the kind words.
As always, great piece, even more so because it has so much personal meaning to it. I will miss your postings! You have helped me beyond measure. Thank you so much for all you have done, and I hope, all you will continue to do at RMFW.
Thanks! 🙂
Thanks for all the sage insights over the years, Nathan !
More parsley garnish than sage, but thanks, Mark.
Even though I’m older, I am fairly new to writing. I’ve enjoyed all your thoughtful posts. Thank you for sharing them!
I, too, have enjoyed your posts, Nathan. I hope you’ll still drop in and add your always insightful comments when you can. Write on!
Thank you for all the wise council. Enjoyed it very much!
Thank you, Nathan! You will be missed!!
Nathan, thank you for all you’ve done! Thanks for all of your advice! It is always a pleasure meeting and talking with you and I look forward to our next time! Write ON, man!