Money can make you famous. But in the end all it is, is a green piece of paper with a president’s head. It is considered impolite to ask how much of it a person makes since the reason one is asking has nothing to do with the person her/himself. That said status probably comes in one’s ability to give. As fledgling writers, we never suspect our hearts will make us any money. Initially, we feel our ways of giving probably will never be understood by this political system.
Realistically, any successful business is driven by a steadfast heart, writer or not. I guess if you love doing something enough, good things eventually come. As we get older, our worries transform. I can write messages down that people take to heart. Better make it count -- But how?
Any gift is a gift that continues to give. Maybe we writers should “pay our gift forward,” as the movie “Pay It Forward” goes. Books (any genre) give a writer’s unique wisdom, wisdom that comes from the writer’s imagination and heart. We give our hearts to readers, readers to friends, and the gift continues. Even in reading the stories of dark imaginations, we sit down with open hearts that end more so when the story’s over.
It’s like that story “The Christmas Box,” by Richard Evans. The enchanted tale, a work of nonfiction, is a result of some elevated force. It may not be dark, but it is pure fascination from start to finish, and it teaches that love is the greatest gift of all. Through the love of one woman for her dead child, we the reader can appreciate the love in our own lives. So world influencing is the story that a world-renowned statue of an angel with outstretched arms was built, symbolizing the gift of a child, and the openness of a child’s love reflected from God. The message is that God takes care of us all if we learn to listen. We are all loved, and we were all put on this earth to love. I am no church fanatic, but I do feel there is a higher order. Nature creates. Even when stars are self-destructing, nature is recreating.
Appreciation for life is a gift. Where do gifted writers go from there? Stephen King writes of horrid things, but in his book “On Writing,” he shows us there is a message in each: understanding. Understanding different sorts of people, and understanding that even bad people have “good” in them and vice-verse. Like, “The Christmas Box,” there is an indirect social unity in his stories. Each one of us possesses calm and chaos. There isn’t much truth in the midst of television and bad news. We writers can offer the gift of human truth. Understanding that we all sometimes view life as weird or flat-out morbid, we writers may show how human beings have the unique ability of imagination to get through it.
What this all boils down to, is if there is a basic element of compassion in all of your writing, readers will perk up and learn to listen. I can’t think of a better reason to write, unpaid or not.
