The Grasshopper #74: Readers
Online writing is a two way street
I’m getting more comments lately; my guess is because I’ve gotten a little more personal here. And I welcome them, though I do not always feel compelled to reply because, in many cases, the comments do not require a response.
Last week’s Grasshopper jumped around because that is the way my mind works. I am working through an idea or observation and it becomes colored by something I am reading that is seemingly unrelated. A jump for example, to the opening lines of The Odyssey because I came across a word that interested me and took a detour to look it up.
That detour led me to quote the opening lines of the ancient epic poem in the middle of last week’s piece. The Grasshopper is, at its heart, a view into the mind of a writer, sometimes mine, and sometimes another more well known. I happen to be in awe of great opening lines and The Odyssey certainly delivers.
Quick note: I just ordered a copy of Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey because she is publishing her Illiad this week, and it’s getting great reviews, but every review references her Odyssey. I need to read them in order. Since it’s an epic poem, not my usual reading material, I have this notion that I am going to read it out loud and take my time with it.
So, you can have this image of a guy reading Homer out loud alone in his apartment. I’m not a loser, really!
(Odyssey first line, cont’d.)
But it wasn’t just that. And it seems I have to explain this to one reader who I would ask to not read everything so literally. As with everything there are connections within connections and often, they only make themselves on a subconscious level.
That opening line is:
“Tell me about a complicated man.”
For better or worse I have been telling you the story of my life these past few weeks because I am going through a substantial period of change and to ignore it here would be to pretend it did not take place. It did and it changed me. And the notion of a complicated man struck me because my life is complicated.
That’s the simple reason I included the Odyssey quote. As writers you can choose to ignore the subtle connections and go the James Patterson route: bang out a story that is simplistic, fast moving, and requires little input from a reader. It’s a formula for escapism and it really, really works.
I wouldn’t mind cranking out a few thrillers that sold like hotcakes but unfortunately that is just not in my makeup. One of the reasons I write this, and hopefully the reason you are reading, is following the rambling path my mind often follows.
My day to day writing, about politics for example, follows a kind of logic that gradually hammers away until I’ve made my point. There’s a definite thread there and it is what keeps someone reading until the end.
But here I’m off the leash. I’m sorry if that sometimes doesn’t make sense, but really I’m not.
Let’s take one of those jumps. I think one of the intriguing things about a lot of Substack newsletters is their lack of a logical thought progression. Instead we peer into the minds of the writers and hopefully see things we feel too, not always explainable. The reader is part of the dialog and that dialog sometimes requires a reader to stop thinking too much.
Just go with the flow and hope the connections the writer sees start to connect for you.
I know writing is hard for a lot of (most?) people. There is a simple cure for this but like most simple cures, it’s actually a lot of work. You have to write everyday, like clockwork, and preferably around the same time each day.
There’s another thing, but before I get to that, let me briefly talk about this everyday thing. It’s really common advice and I make no claims to being original but I can tell you why I always emphasize this first. Simply put, it changed my writing drastically.
I got better every time I wrote. That should be obvious. Practice makes perfect, etc. But the real benefit is I started to look forward to sitting down with my coffee and my iPad and just diving in. As you might guess from my recent posts, I have an addictive personality.
While that sounds bad, and it can be, you can channel it into useful actions and getting a buzz when I write has been nothing but positive. So, don’t write off the value of hooking yourself on writing every day.
The second thing may be more difficult, especially if you are one of those who find sitting down and getting started really hard. Write crap. Just let the words go where they want and don’t spend a minute thinking about whether it’s any good, makes sense, makes you look stupid or smart, or sounds ignorant.
It doesn’t matter at all and there is a simple reason why. No one needs to see it, read it, have an opinion about it- it’s just you and the page. But that is the easy part and the part where I differ with the journaling crowd.
You’re not a writer until you publish it somewhere. Anywhere where random readers can find it.
I’ve emphasized this many times in The Grasshopper. Until you let it go and put it out into the world, you’re not writing. You might be doing self-therapy but you’re not a writer.
Brutal? Yes it is but it is the reality of what a writer is these days when you can publish in a few clicks. And you might get a reader.
And believe me that will change things, maybe forever. You don’t get a lot of opportunities in life like that.
If you write, or if you wondered why I chose Substack, this post from their co-founder pretty much sums up why. My other platform, Medium, has made it clear their focus is on readers, not the writers that make their site possible. Substack is the opposite.
I believe that supporting the writers first means readers will get stronger work from better writers because we are incentivized to do our best work. And to be rewarded for it, both financially and through introduction to great readers.
The personal events I have written about recently are having profound and evolving effects on my entire worldview, all for the better so far. But I question the value of writing about them here in The Grasshopper. It would be too easy to turn this into a confessional personal growth journal and I do not think that is what you signed up for.
I certainly do believe that the events in our lives have a huge impact on our writing and I also believe many readers can relate to some of these revelations of mine. But this is a newsletter about writing, not a confessional booth.
I wouldn’t even know how to say a Hail Mary if told to.
But, being a writer, I literally have had to write about these life-changing events in my life, and how they are affecting me as a human and as a storyteller. So I opened a Doc and started telling the story. It’s only been a few weeks since I cut my face open and decided to stop drinking, but those few weeks have been an endless litany of experiences and just understanding even part of them has required the writer in me to write.
Because I firmly believe in the value of sharing my writing, I will eventually publish this story, which may be by that time a book of some kind. It’s growing fast, already around 6000 words, so it seems I have a tale to tell.
But I’m still right in the middle of it, fighting demons and having visions, so until I get a chance to catch my breath and digest things I’m going to keep it to myself. When it is a story and I have edited it, I will offer it to my readers as a kind of explanation and possibly something useful for anyone experiencing similar life changes.
So, I guess I have taken on another writing project…
Fall has arrived early here. It is cool, sunny, and pleasant but seeing leaves blowing around in mid September is a little distressing. Change just keeps chugging along, like it or not (I’m liking it).
If it is possible, the election season and climate change are heating up even more as the year progresses. No shortage of subject matter for this political writer. But there are lots of other things on my plate too.
An especial thank you to those who upgraded their subscriptions to paid after my letter last week. Every little bit helps and every little bit is the way most writers these days grow, despite the get-rich-quick-side-hustle baloney we are fed.
It’s ok to get rich slowly and to understand that ‘rich’ is subjective. I’ll leave it at that.
Did you write today?
Martin
1544 words
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