The other day I had guests over at our house for coffee. We were talking about many things, when my friend asked me an interesting question about my habit of recording, was it worth writing all this down? Of course, I had my answer to that…
Him being a Christian, I then explained why the Bible was written down, and how it gave us precious guidelines to live our life. Imagine if it was not written 2,000 years ago… when it was pretty much difficult to write, and you didn’t have proper pens or smooth paper – it probably took a lifetime to write a book. Yet they did that… they had to, to leave their mark on humanity, for our sake.
I also told him the example of how my dad had a diary that had an entry when I was born, as a doctor it’s difficult to figure out his handwriting, so I asked him…. he couldn’t figure out half of it himself. But it’s a precious thing… to see what was going on at the time of my birth.
And so I told my friend (he’d already written 30 pages), there’s a book in you and you need to publish that, so that your children will be proud of you. So that your great grand children will recite verses from it and toast to you. So that many generations will enjoy and cherish your words, your thoughts… don’t let it be damned to silence, release them for all eternity.
A while back, I asked a hugely talented business owner, talented is probably an understatement. Why don’t you publish some of the stuff you write. And his reply to me…“Do you know which is THE best book written so far?” I replied with a no. “… the book that no can read but yourself.”
He was saying this because it contained really personal matters that could move him, stuff that would stir emotions, that would spark his memories. That he would read for his own pleasure.
And then I told him, “You’re being selfish, you don’t want to share your best creation with others so that they may experience it.” He replied, “Yes.”
I encourage you to write down your best stuff, share it either with friends or family, or with the world. Don’t worry no one may be reading it, but someone will discover it and then history changes its course. Or as my friend did, at least write it for yourself.
But just write it down… this is a skill only humans possess, not animals – we’re the only species who have this ability to communicate the past, present and future using symbols & words as our language. Which is why we yearn to become writers, to express ourself, to release those thoughts in our mind, that we’ve been playing like a broken record.
You may not be the only one. Everyone wants to write a book and become an author, but only 20% actually start writing and 1% actually publish (rough numbers I made up just now).
A new blog is created every half second, and as I write this, there are over 1.8 million posts published today itself.
So don’t be afraid to write, no one is paying attention… but if someone does, they’ll enjoy what you put out there. If they don’t – it wasn’t meant for them.