Author, J. California Cooper in her NPR interview makes it clear that her love of writing fiction precedes all else.
To the NPR host’s question, “Had you not achieved the attention, the adulation, the critical acclaim…the applause, do you still be a writer?” she says,
…I didn’t write for applause.. I’m glad it came… I was telling stories before I could write. I played with paper dolls until I was eighteen…Lots of things are going on around you that you’re not paying attention to. And I happen to see that.“
It was nice to hear this at a time when authors are urged to write at least one blog per week as part of their long term plan for connecting with and remaining so with readers in order to ultimately sell our books.
And yet I wonder what is it that writers are doing when we write our stories. Are we not connecting with our readers when we craft our stories and launch them into the world through whatever device–digital or paperback
Are we having fun when write our blogs?
The answer to the question of when is putting ourselves out there for readers too much exposure? Better yet, if and when readers and their potential counterparts become tired of seeing our words and faces.
I’m finding now that the more I write–in my blogs–the less I have to say.
My goal has turned from so much saying something, rather and hopefully stimulating whomever reads my words to think and ponder their human condition, their anxieties and thoughts about writing, life and the ultimate meaning of our existence.
I ponder mine each day–each time I sit and write a blog that I launch into the world.
The writing life is a lonely life–one filled with uncertainty that at the same time demand an unyielding belief in the words one scribble upon that paper napkin or pecks out upon the typewriter and/or computer keyboard.
J. California Cooper stated in her interview that she keeps her stories simple because she is trying to reach the masses–in an attempt to assist them in making right choices. She seeks through her writing to help readers choose to act in ways that improve the quality of their lives. “This no game out here in life,” she says. On that I thoroughly agree.
It is also no simple game sitting in front of this computer–or facing the blank page.
I invite you to listen to J. California Cooper’s interview on NPR,
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=537646
…and then ponder what it is you don’t have or perhaps want to write–without the applause or the adulation–what you have noticed that perhaps others have not, or that the other day you missed.
Please leave comments below.
Thank you for submitting this piece. I love J. California Cooper’s work. The thoughtfulness that goes into crafting stories is what I appreciate as a reader, and try to do as a writer.
Thanks so much for your comment. And yes, J. California Cooper endows her stories with much wisdom that we all as writers would do well to emulate, at least attempt to.