February 2, 2019

Why do we do what we do?

Posted in Books, writing tagged #johnmccay, #thoughtoftheday, #whywedowhatwedo, accomplishments, ADVICE, Books, writing at 12:01 AM by manonanisland

Good morning/evening everybody. My name is John McCay and I am an author. This is my first blog entry so be gentle with me, okay? It’s my first time. The question was posed to me…

Why do we write?

Let’s be honest with each other here, the money is great. It’s a vindication that another person trusts us enough and that somehow we are doing something right. It still blows my mind that a reader can invest their hard earned money into something I wrote! I feel a total rush when I see those Amazon ranking numbers drop. I’m a dork when it comes to such matters, so please, excuse my enthusiasm. And, if you’re a writer, you know I speak the truth…we all get a touch of jealousy when another writer outsells us (especially when the book has a shirtless gorilla on the cover or has a greyish colour in the title! But I digress.)

We are human…

We want to feel like we belong and can hang with other authors. It’s human nature, I guess. But then I went deeper- and allow me, please, to use myself as a human guinea pig here- I got a Facebook message a few months ago from a person that I had never met before in my life. My jaw dropped to the floor when the person spoke of how my book got him through a very dark time in his life and pulled him back from the edge. He said it gave him hope. My little ole book, my baby, gave this man who I never met, hope! It gave him hope! It just absolutely blew my mind-still does. That’s when I first saw my scribblings for what they truly were- something special! My book gave a person in dire circumstances hope- the will to just step back off the ledge and lift their chin again. That’s a pretty powerful thing! That’s one thing we don’t always realise as writers.

There in lies the power of our words.

It’s a hard and messed up world we live in and it feels like we’re getting hammered with constant challenges day by day. But if our words can help the reader escape that reality, even for just a little bit, then we have succeeded more than we ever realised.

Reading is escapism…

It helps to hold back the shadow for just a little bit. It might sound like hyperbole but it’s true. In the greater context, our contribution is small compare to others. We writers don’t run into burning buildings or work long and painful hours in a nursing ward but maybe we are there to just give the slightest of nudges. Get up; try again.

You. Can. Do. This!

I was so upset the other day when a popular talk show host (I won’t name names here) said that comic books don’t have any value and that they are essentially for children.

Oh Zippy, let me sing you ze song of my people, ja?

I work with children every day of the year (professional cat herder/minion handler here, but we’ll leave that for another therapy session) and I tell you they idolize characters like Spiderman and Iron Man. A young child, still so new to the world can see and recognize the values and life lessons that these characters hold sacred to them. Their eyes light up when they see their heroes. They want to be like them. You are lying to yourself if you don’t think that has an impact on a child.

We need heroes now, more than ever before

Now, I am not saying you should put on some spandex and go jump off a building. (You will be road pizza and nobody wants that). No, I am talking about the little things here. Using your power to help the weak, to lift up those who’s heads have dropped. Little actions can change the world, one damn step at a time.

That’s what we do as writers

Be you a classical writer of major literary novels or something as simple as a comic book, you inspire others to be a better version of who they were yesterday. Another based his Dungeons and Dragons game on one of my books, which is epically cool also.

So yeah…

…that is my song and dance for today.

Keep writing!

Even if you think it is complete and utter Moose kaka, you never know who is out there reading your words and getting inspired or even just finding the strength to lift their head, get out of bed and look the world right in the eyes again.

Permalink Leave a Comment