March Madness Writing Club and Metas
Apologies to @etiolation, if they are still around and it's a problem, for coopting this thread.
I want to start writing. My goal is to be a famous and well-compensated pundit with lots of beautiful young groupies and first class tickets spilling out of my inbox.
I'll settle for having a minor impact making someone's life a little better.
But, I really don't know how to get started in making it useful, how to engage in a broader community of writiers and develop and connect with an audience.
So I'm reaching out to the highest quality online community of which I am a part:
Is there anyone here who knows their writing has impacted another? Would you care to share the how's, the why's, and the wherefores?
Is anyone here a part of a writing group that's open to new members? Would you share?
Is there anywone here who has made money as a writer?
My particular writing focus is how to increase the level of "goodness" in the world. I don't even yet have a fully formed idea of what I think that is, perhaps a good topic for an essay. But, I don't even really know what an essay is. Somehow I got through a liberal arts education with decent grades, but don't seem to really know diddly squat about abstract thinking. More importantly, I don't have a well defined goal of the point of anything, with one exception: connection. The only time I truly feel at peace in this world is when I feel connected to another human. And it's a thing that perhaps a lot of folks take for granted, but which I was (presumably inadvertently) trained to avoid at all costs as very young person.
So, if you have any thoughts on how to develop focus and form, and identify venue, and raise profiles and get feedback, I'd be most obliged.
All the best and all the blessings
Back when I was a steadily working stage actor I realized that was my motivation as well: connection. I needed to know I could triumph over my existential crises of isolation and meaninglessness and actually make significant contact with others.
Once I had “proven” that to myself over the years, really made people laugh and cry and change their perspectives on issues, I found I no longer had the same need to act on stage. Now I do it, when I can, for other reasons.
As a writer I try to provide voices and perspectives I don’t see elsewhere. It made me awful for Hollywood, where you are supposed to be copying successful trends. But I always felt there were enough people writing superhero stories and teen comedies. They didn’t need me.
So now I write for myself. Novels and screenplays and stage plays that illuminate the neglected corners of existence. I write, narrate, and produce nonfiction ancient history episodes on YouTube. The funny thing is these episodes are more popular than any of my writing ever. My videos on ancient Irish and Basque and Sumerian history have each been seen by millions.
My latest novel series with its weekly installments has maybe a hundred listeners/readers. But I’m equally proud of both. But I know about myself now that I need to know who I’m speaking to and WHY before I can get started.
You might find, as you get deeper into this, that you also need such framing. It sounds as though you do. If it’s money and success, then the gameplan is fairly simple and the way is filled with agents and coaches who will gladly take your money and move you through the system. Some of them will even be helpful. And once you become good enough to read, you earn yourself a lottery ticket to artistic success, which is nothing to be ashamed of. But like with any lottery you still need all the luck in the world.
If you are writing to make connections though… Get very specific with how and why you want to connect and put your art in service to that. Most of my projects now, if I can get just one person to truly grasp what I’m attempting to do with a story I consider it a success. Any more positive reactions than that first one are simply abstractions of success. A readership of millions is a mass I can’t properly keep in my head. Then, that’s usually a capitalist version of commodified art.
Go ahead and dream big. Make sure you’re writing at a world-class level. Then survey the field and figure out where you fit.
I’d be happy to read your writing or form a circle with you and others here. But it is a looooong road and you better enjoy the journey, because the destination is unclear and many years away.