Can you write?
As soon as my first book hit the market, I started receiving e-mail messages, phone calls and short messages on my mobile phone from people from various places and backgrounds. Some just wanted to congratulate me. Some wanted advice. It would have helped me a lot if I had received messages from critics as well, but it seems critics have decided to keep their opinions to themselves.
It is true that critics, especially those who are strangers, can give very useful comments about anything because they have nothing to lose by calling a spade a spade. They can easily say, “This is a whole lot of trash!”
This message is directed to a special group of people. Each member of this group asked me a question that goes, “Do you think I too could write the way you do?” It’s an important question. You probably have the same question. I am going to give you my thoughts on this, to assist you.
Here is a useful quotation: “All human activity is prompted by desire” (Bertrand Russel). This is true. You’ve got to believe it.
I now give you another useful quotation. It goes like this: “If you wish to be a writer, write” (Epictetus).
Honestly, I cannot say whether you could write like I do or not. I actually think that it is not necessary for you to try and write like me or like any other person. I personally do not write like anyone besides me. I write like myself. That’s important. Your writing should be unique. You will not succeed by copying other people’s styles! You will need a unique style, if readers are to notice your work.
With reference to the question that readers asked me, let me give a little bit of advice. I was reading something, a book or journal, when I came across a powerful statement on writing. The statement went something like this, “If there is something that you are dying to tell, advise or teach the world, and you can arrange facts in a logical sequence, then you can write.” I found this statement very encouraging. Writers do not come from Mars. They are people like you and me.
The difference between writers and non-writers is that writers write and non-writers don’t. If you want to be a writer, write. If you want to be a teacher, teach. One does not become a teacher by obtaining a teaching degree. A teacher teaches. If he does not teach then he is not a teacher even if he holds a teaching degree. I am a writer today because I started writing. If you read my first book – SUCCESS LACKS MEANING IF GOD IS NOT IN IT – you will note that I developed an interest in writing around 1984 but only started writing in 2004, a whole twenty years later! I could have started writing before 1990 if I was serious then about taking action in that direction.
Come to think of it, almost everybody has written something in his lifetime. Even pupils in primary school have written compositions. They have been taught how to arrange paragraphs, to ensure that they do not mix up issues. They have been taught that first things should come first, that the end should come at the end. It is common knowledge that when one writes about a journey that he undertook he doesn’t start by saying, “When I arrived…”
The major question is: Do you have something that you are dying to tell, teach or advise people? If you have, then you’ve a good foundation; you’ve good motivation to write. If you are not sure, then how would you even start to write? I am always dying inside to tell the whole world about something; I am dying every second of my life to do so. That ‘something’ that I am dying to tell people about is God. Not that everybody should write about the same subject. You could have a different subject, but the bottom-line is the same - you need to be passionate about it.
If you write about a subject that you are passionate about you will have no difficulties. I tell people that I never run out of ideas; I only run out of time. I can start writing a new book anytime, without cranking up my mind or spirit like an old automobile. I know what to write about and I am passionate about it. When you see me walking down the street, be sure that book titles are spinning in my head. “What should I write about next? What book title would be most appropriate? What about the topics?” These questions follow me wherever I go.
Sometime I wake up in the dead of the night to write. One day I woke up three times to write things down. Ideas just flooded my mind as I slept. I could not stand it, so I had to wake up and write them down. If you focus on writing, ideas on your written work will come. An appropriate book title can come to your mind as you board the bus. You need to move around with a small notebook so that you would immediately write down ideas as they come, otherwise you would lose very bright ideas by forgetting them.
You might wonder why I am so passionate about my writing. You need to know that writing should not be an end in itself; it should be purposeful. When I say that I am passionate about my writing I actually mean that I am passionate about what my writing is intended to achieve. I am passionate about souls, to win them over to Christ.
One statement, given by the Supreme Master, jolted me into action. After I read it, I began working towards assisting my fellow countrymen and those beyond to focus on what should be the number one priority in their lives. The statement that I am referring to goes like this: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36–37, NIV). I hope that you now appreciate my motivation.
So if you want to be a writer, start writing today. First write a small plan on the subject that you intend to write about. You will be surprised at how much you used to underrate yourself. After writing my first book I was surprised that I had written something so good. I would read it and exclaim, “Is it really me who produced this?” This could be the case with you. You could be holding back treasure from the world!
Be prepared for the next instalment.
May the God of mercy always guide your steps!
© 2008 by Phanuel Muverengwi
Phanuel Muverengwi is the author of SUCCESS LACKS MEANING IF GOD IS NOT IN IT. You can get yourself a copy from Innov8 G. Silundika, Celebration Centre, Christian Media Centre and Avondale bookshops. The author will release YOU HYPOCRITE and HOW TO MAXIMISE THE VALUE OF YOUR LIFE by 15 December 2008.
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