Dear Writer,
This week, my managing editor Lindsey Gaterman sent out a message encouraging the writers in my community to keep telling their stories, to keep writing and to continue to have their voices heard. Her message reminded me of you. You, the young writer whose head is full of stories and whose heart is bursting with poetry. You, the young writer who has an opinion and wants to share it but speaks too softly. You, the young writer who has so many things to contribute to the global conversation but hesitates before they write because they are not certain if they are worthy of those words.
I thought of you because I used to be you.
Although I have been scribbling out little stories since I learned how to hold a pencil, I harbored doubts about my own writing for years. I wrote stories and came up with an idea for things I wanted to say, but I never really wanted to be fully open about my writing. I worried I wasn’t good enough. I worried that no one would ever want to read my words.
Artists I have found, at least in the current culture of the United States, are notorious self-doubters. And you are an artist, young writer. You don’t paint with oil, but you paint images with your words and that is just as important and valid as any artistic form of expression. We artists, as I’m sure you know, write for hundreds of different reasons: entertainment, therapy, to understand your beliefs etc. I am not going to ask you WHY you write; you already know the answer to that. In this letter, I am asking you, why don’t you share your writing with the world? Why don’t you put your thoughts down on paper?
I know you are scared. I know that you feel that maybe you are not worthy or experienced enough to write down what you are feeling and what you are thinking. Maybe you feel like the story you want to tell has already been told a hundred different ways over and over again and no one will want to read what you have to say.
I am here to tell you that you are worthy. You are worthy of those words and of your own ideas. No one else knows but you how you feel about a particular topic or issue, and even if other people are voicing their thoughts, they are not YOU. You offer a unique perspective to the conversation simply by being yourself. There is no one else like you on the planet, and no one else thinks quite exactly the same way you do. No one else can rearrange the letters that make up your language exactly the same way you can. Only you can put your thoughts into words in that unique way. You have a voice as a writer and as a human being, and your words matter. Lack of experience does not mean that you should not write. It does not mean that you should feel like you should not share your thoughts. As a human being, as a writer, and as an artist, your words are worthy of being read. The world is waiting to read your words and respond to your thoughts. Don’t believe me? Think about the poetry that you’ve read, the songs you’ve listened to and connected with, the novel that speaks to your soul. Those words had an impact on you. That heartbreaking breakup song got you through your breakup. That poem about life and justice, that opinionated poem spoke to you in a special way. That novel made you laugh when nothing else could. Those writers’ words mattered to you.
Now, I am telling you that you can be that person for someone else.
You are a writer with so many wonderful ideas and a unique and important perspective. You have so many interesting stories to tell. I urge you to go and write that story, your story, in the way only you can.
I look forward to reading your words.
Sincerely,
A Fellow Writer
