My friend started talking about how posting a poem on Facebook is no longer an event on his page. I guess his latest stuff being posted is not receiving critiques, praise, or attention. I know that I pay attention to his writing and I tell him what I think. But then again, he is usually my go to guy for my writing, so it's a thing we have with each other.
I started talking about how he should be writing for himself, not an audience. He says that he wants glory and wants to be amazing to all different types of people, otherwise what is the point of writing.
I guess this is where we differ. I don't write for anyone. Heck, I don't think I write for myself sometimes. I don't care if I have an audience. If people are paying attention, of course I am going to feel great. But it doesn't make or break me as a writer.
I believe that you should write for the sake of writing. An audience is nice, but who are they at the end of the day to your writing? The practice of the craft is worth more than the praise or attention. How do you become a better writer if you don't write? How will you gain the praise and attention you seek (if that's your goal) if you don't write?
Do it for the love of the craft. Because you have something to say. If you put your writing in a place where people will see it, someone will see it. It's that simple. Someone is bound to read it, even if they don't say anything.
I think that I seek acknowledgment. I have been writing poetry for over ten years. But I didn't start pursuing writing as a career until 2007, when I was just about to get my Associates in Music Production. Around that time, something clicked in my head and I realized that I am a writer, I am a poet. But not everyone sees me in this light.
I don't care if you think I am an amazing writer or not. I just care that you see that I am a writer. That's all I seek, that's all I want.
Glory, if you are to become a constant friend, I'll appreciate you while you are here. But I do it for me. I write for writing. I write.
I write.
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On a side note, I would love to continue this discussion with other writers. Who do you write for? Please feel free to leave a comment on this entry or to even write your own blog post or article about this and leave the link. Assuming that I have an audience that's going to read this, which I don't care about hahaha!