an act of perpetual self-authorization
A little pep talk about writing and creativity: "Everything you notice is important."
Early on in my pursuit of a writing career, I kept most of what I wrote (and the fact that I was writing at all) to myself.
Writing can be very personal. It exposes you to questions you’re not ready to answer or don’t wish to answer. It opens you up to criticism and a feeling of… well… nakedness.
Writing can also open you up to the fact that you might have ideas or opinions that others don’t agree with. But I would argue there’s no better way to find out how you feel about a particular subject than to write about it.
However, when others publicly disagree with you or criticize you or question what you’ve written, they, whether they mean to or not, attempt to take away your permission to write or to silence you.
Don’t let them!
This happens when someone you trust tells you your opinions don’t matter. It happens when a friend leaves a critical review of something you poured your heart and soul into.
One could argue that writers open themselves up to this. Simply by publishing our words, we invite criticism. And this danger isn’t just reserved for writers. Actors, painters, musicians… the list goes on. All creatives open themselves up to criticism.
But criticism doesn’t have to silence you.
Other people’s opinions of your work or of your desire to be creative shouldn’t take away the authority you have to pursue that work.
I recently came across a book by Verlyn Klinkenborg titled Several Short Sentences About Writing. In it, Klinkenborg writes about how we perceive the world, noting that “if you notice something, it’s because it’s important.”
But he says a lot more than that:
“But everything you notice is important.
Let me say that a different way:
If you notice something, it’s because it’s important.
But what you notice depends on what you allow yourself to notice,
And that depends on what you feel authorized, permitted to notice
In a world where we’re trained to disregard our perceptions.Who’s going to give you the authority to feel that what younotice is important?
It will have to be you.
The authority you feel has a great deal to do with how you write, and what you write,
With your ability to pay attention to the shape and meaning of your own thoughts
And the value of your own perceptions.Being a writer is an act of perpetual self-authorization.
No matter who you are.
Only you can authorize yourself….
No one else can authorize you.
No one.”
Read that last section again: Being a writer is an act of perpetual self-authorization. No matter who you are. Only you can authorize yourself…. No one else can authorize you. No one.
I’m somewhat of a sucker for a good book on writing or on leading a creative life. But this book goes beyond that. This passage alone tells us that what we observe in the world is important. Whether we write about it or not, we are allowed to feel that what we notice is important.
Be sure to pick up Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg.