I WRITE THEREFORE I AM

I am not usually so concerned with the rest of the world. But is has come to my attention, in between intense bouts of editing that some people out there in the multiverse; otherwise known as the Internet simply do not believe it is possible to write, proofread and edit a book well.
I have something to say about this:
It comes in two parts:
PART ONE The one where I tell you that this is possible and why.
PART TWO: The one where I tell you why I think we don't believe it.

So......
ONE
I write because I want to. I write things I want to write about. I write because it is my passion. I write because I love it. I write because....... you get the idea.
Now tell me, does everyone do those things? Write for passion, love, and what not?
I'm guessing that most of you will deny the fact that sometimes you write because you have to. It might be a simple matter of economics, or pride, or just to keep up with what is popular. But I think it does have a bearing on what happens after that.
You may be good, bad or downright terrible, but you write right?
So then....... Well, if you have poured your heart into something, you will want it to be sent out into the world with the best possible chance of being accepted by others. So what do you do?
EDIT of course.
But who does the editing?
Is it YOU?
SOMEBODY?
NOBODY?
A PUBLISHER?
I am in favour of editing. Please don't tell me I spell things wrong, I'm using British English; so I spell in my native way as well. I use the structure, vocabulary, and cultural meaning inherent in the language of my birth. Even my region, county or town. I am a product of a culture and an inheritance which I love and am rightly proud. I believe that we should uphold our own culture and place of origin in our writing. SO when I edit, I edit for me. With the exception of a few, I believe that the best person to say what my book should look like in the end is me. I am not ignorant, or arrogant in saying this. I have the faculties of any well read person. I spot errors in a text just as certainly as any reader would. The population of Readers (who I greatly respect) are not removed from me in any way. They read books, so do I. I write books, they may not. Or they may not do it YET.
I wish for a truly encouraging atmosphere of respect for the culture of writing. I want one where writing is respected and not demeaned by anyone. A place where the cheats and the charlatans who feed off our inadequacies are put out of the picture (Exit: Vanity Publishers, Nay sayers, and Critics).
PART TWO: Why we don't believe it......?
Yes, I know that a lot of people on the well meaning sea of the internet say that you need to get someone else to edit your book. But I ask you this: have you ever attempted to edit it yourself? If you don't do it, you won't get better at it. If you never try, how will you ever know if you can?
It wasn't so long ago that there was a terrible discouragement for ever writing a book.... as if people who wrote stories were the "Special" people.... exceptional souls who were destined for greatness. And look how it has changed!! But now the last bastion of the traditional idea of publishing, that someone else takes your creation and makes it better must die a similar death. There are bad editors and good editors, just as there are bad writers and good writers. But let the readers be the judges. Let us not create barriers for those who seek the light. Those who desire to make visible the images of their imagination; to carve out of that hard unyielding rock the dream they have had since they were small children. To be a real writer!!
To be honest I think that all writers, published by self/traditional/other means are real writers. But do they love it enough to give it a proper send off? Is there quality to the edit? Is there care, love, attention given to it? Are you happy with the finished product? I am a purist. I totally Do-It-Myself. I do not say that that is the only way. But it IS a way. It is valid, respectable and good. My work reaches the reader. I love my stories, my characters.
I care about the end result. Yes; that comma may be in the wrong place. I know... that in a text of 139,000 words there may be a couple of obvious typos.... maybe. Then judge me. Are you going to also judge the traditionally published books who have the same things? With all their teams of people wholly dedicated to produce a work worthy of you, the reading public?

So..... If you read a book, and spot an error; what do you do?
I am guessing that if it is traditionally published you will forgive them... after all it's a great story right?
A self published book should not be judged in any different way. The reader deserves a good read. The writer owes it to the reader to offer the best of what they have. The difference is that, in a self published work the writer is responsible for the end product. We are throwing ourselves open to the public in a way that no traditionally published writer can. It is not a matter of the quality, but in the end who is deemed responsible for what it looks like.
I think you need to accept responsibility for your own creations and say "YES, IT WAS ME." No excuses.
There is your motive to become a better editor.... a better writer..... a better reader.
Believe it. Do it.
PUBLISH.

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Don't Judge a Cat by its Cover.

Just because I'm a Cat doesn't mean you're smarter than me!
Or perhaps you thought I was actually human? Well yes.... okay, you got me. But the reason cats do not type is because their supposed "Owners" won't let them on the computer.
A measure of intelligence is not whether you know what something is but what it knows itself to be.
A smart cat.... or a human for that matter might just decide not to tell you.
When the world is about to end then, and only then will we know who was really wise....
There will be some surprizes, I think.

In Memory of Imagination.

I remember being a child. I remember the bright white clouds and the sky arc above me. I believed in angels because noone had told me to doubt.
Where does it end? Why do we regret? The things that make us who we are are not the things of the world....they are the things that slip with somehow believed shame through the cracks and gaps of life. If we call it that.... where is your faith on what is possible? Where is your faith? Not a cold stone place full of stiff adults....No. But that bright dancing glowing iridescent feeling that makes you fly while you stand still.
There is always time to throw off the "grown-up", that sensible, cold, worldly logical being that strangulates your soul.
So when I find my time, at the end of my time: I remember Angels, I laughed and cried and lived and embraced life....
The story lives in the telling.
The little child is you and me, is all of us. If we want it to be.

Will the real person please stand out.

I used to think that identity as a person is easily defined. Now I believe that it is an indeterminate art; perhaps a science for fools; or a hobby for the wise.
In a novel, well it gets worse. Here are people you really cannot control, whose extremes and eccentricies are beyond the scope of the most determined psychoanalysis. I often conclude that writers live out their inner selves in their characters; but here is the but to that: as much depth as we possess, I believe we express. Or, to put it another way: people are only as deep as the person who created them. The imagined world that convinces me of its reality is the one that has deeply satisfying expressions of those people who habitually invade a writer's dreams...sleeping or awake. They are the ones that others love and remember for the rest of their lives. I always think of a little girl called Lucy. She refused to stop believing in what she knew she saw and forgave her brother for a terrible betrayal.
You know who I mean don't you?
In falling through doorways to other worlds we should take out the best of those people and let them speak, and breathe, and become real in our hearts.

Pioneers

I am going to get there!
Not Without My Cat
Anne Russell (@PeachyPinkCloud) tweeted at 10:19 AM on Wed, Jun 05, 2013: To be first... first in space. First to climb a mountain. First to write a book: your book. You are pioneers with pencils. #writing (https://twitter.com/PeachyPinkCloud/status/342209051058372608) Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download

Belief is Everything.

Why write? Why be an author? Why make it up?
You want an easy answer....there is one: Because that is what we do. But look deeper into it and find many shades of the answer to the question: Why write? I suppose some justification is needed... I write because it is a compulsion, an obsession that took hold and hasn't let go. Even when not actually hammering the keys I am often in that alongside world in my head; dreaming of the scenes in the story arc of that universe.
I remember the moment I wanted to be a writer. I sat in rapt fascination as my teacher at junior school read "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." by C S Lewis. Nothing could compare to that first taste of the glimmering glittering world wrapped in snow beyond the wardrobe door. I was certain from that moment that I wanted to create a world that was strange and wonderful and both teasing the edge of science and magic at once. I avidly read all C S Lewis' works including the planetary science fiction series (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength.) I had found my muse, I read alot of the Christian Apologetics too; and in it I found a voice.... and so that is how I knew I needed to find my own. The sound of the author telling the story.
My next book is set in a snowy place, as I knew that in the pristine snow of a devilish presence a story could begin... I began with that moment. And so....what is your story? The story you tell yourself; or the story you tell others?
Why do you write? For Love; For Money; For Ambition; For Social Prestige?
Your reasons....well I believe that a writer reveals their sources. What I mean, is that if you love what you do it shines through.
Conversely, if you are in it for the personal glory? Well.... I think wanting things is good. Let's not practice any false humility here. But let your love for writing the story never be soured by a desire to gain leverage in the world.
Thankyou to all those who write stories, and write them well; whatever you believe the reason to be. The world is better with us in it than without.
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