In my life I’ve been told that I would do great things. People have said that they believed I would be a leader, a doctor, a successful business man and even a minister. Honestly though I never fully decided what I wanted to be other than successful. In my measurement of success, I never really thought how it would apply in my endeavors as a creative writer. I enjoy writing and I’ve always wanted to just share my stories, regardless of whether or not I became a running success like J.K. Rowling or Stephen King.
As a writer I feel as if I have the greatest influence and reach that any individual can possess. Whereas engineers design the newest technologies, writers imagine what could be. Where teachers educate their students in new theories, writers create the concepts that broaden the scope of human thinking. Where scientists make great new discoveries, writers inspire others to explore new places and ideas. As far as what has been expected of me in the past, I can consider myself all of those things and more. Leaders of all kinds, whether political, corporate, religious or whatever, rely on the spoken word to convey their ideas to their followers, while I can still reach people through the written word. A medical doctor may be able to heal the physical wounds of a body, but it often takes words of encouragement and fantastic stories to heal a wounded heart or mind. Businesspeople sell their products and services, but a writer has to sell their ideas to their audience (and their books, but that’s a topic for another time). Ministers guide their congregations to the righteous path and uplift the spirits, whereas a writer can also speak to a person’s heart (which I plan to speak more on in the near future from my own experience).
The greatest and most influential writing can be shared in myriad ways: as a movie, a comic, a novel, a short story, a poem, a song, a television series, a presidential speech, and other ways I don’t really care to name, but you get the idea. Even if people don’t care to read (or can’t read) there are plenty of ways to convey a writer’s ideas and depending on the presentation, the message of a good story my last with a person longer than the words of their closest and most trusted friend or family member. So in closing my thoughts for today, I guess I can say that I have some ideas as to what I want to do from here. And as far as measuring my success, maybe it’s just a matter of how many people I can reach and influence by my pen/keyboard.