Essay - Thoughts of An Amateur Writer
Writing is not easy. Writing is not difficult either. It is perhaps the single most surreal experience one can undertake. To write, is to wrestle with language, with thoughts, with the invisible weight of expectation. It is to confront oneself in the most vulnerable way possible, because every word on the page is a mirror reflecting not only what we know but also what we fear, we do not know. I write as well, though not as often as I would like. I stall, I hesitate, I delay. I do not put pen to paper when I should. And most of the time, I am simply scared of how it will turn out. This essay explores my point of view of the paradox of writing—the tension between difficulty and ease, fear and liberation—and reflects on why some of us stall while others embrace the craft with courage and are successful. At first glance, writing seems deceptively simple. After all, it is just words strung together, sentences formed and paragraphs built. Anyone who has learned a language can, in theor...