Writing: A Tranquil Diligence

Paul Tamayo
Posthumous luck is unreliable. A writers work requires advocacy to endure, and
this needs to happen within a writers life also.
David Morley, The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing

Dreams are pleasant, even admirable. Cogito ergo sum. I think, therefore I am, the
great French mathematician and philosopher, Rene Descartes once said. The dreamer feels this
euphoric excitement upon constructing in his mind a raw framework for his goals. There is a
sudden urge to make time go faster, a startling longing to wake up and get things done. Well,
ideally that is. Our dreams are made up of a breed of emotions and ideals. Combine both and
you come up with different kinds of fantasies. One can be pleased with the act of planning, but
he should never be satisfied if things stay the way they are. There should be the desire to turn
these ideas to realities. So, what should the dreamer do? Simple. Work.
Putting on a new perspective, the art of writing can also apply the same aforementioned
concept. All persons are born with the innate capacity to learn language. So, as some point of
their lives, they will acquire the faculties needed to plunge into the depths of writing. A random
individual can become a good writer of any kind of literature of his interest. He may even be
specific with his genre. If he may so elect Shakespeare, he would be able to write good sonnets.
On the other hand, if he preoccupies himself with Poe, his works, may it be in the form of poetry
or prose, could be gothic and mysterious in nature. But there is a fine line that separates good
writers and great writers. Great writers work hard at their craft. They take pride at the process,
no matter how rigorous and demanding it is and will be. Talent is trash if not put into effort and
constant practice. I have known gifted and talented young people stand out of their class,
become complacent and satisfied, which in turn, led to an inevitable downfall.
All processes, may they be different in nature, always start from a certain vital point. The
process of writing, sometimes relentless in its demands, begins life through an all-important act:
reading. The great novelist, Stephen King, puts forth, If you dont have the time to read, you
dont have the time (or the tools) to write. Most aspiring writers, due to an ability to effectively
articulate, become obsessed only with their talent and lousily produce one-dimensional texts.
For a writer to influence readers of different backgrounds, he should be able to write from
various standpoints. And its impossible to obtain multiple perspectives if a writer doesnt have
the longing to read. Its not just a want. The word should be that of a longing to read. Longing, in

a sense that life would be so incomplete without it. As William Godwin, an English philosopher
and novelist, said, He that loves reading has everything within his reach. There should be a
conscious effort to study the great works of the great writers and a willingness to be influenced
upon, in the techniques of writing and most importantly, in life. Employ your time in
improving yourself by other mens writings so that you shall come easily by what others have
laboured for, the great Greek philosopher, Socrates himself once instructed.
To top it off, yes, reading the masterpieces of the classics is an essential prerequisite to
writing, but nothing is more vital than that of knowing yourself as a writer and as a man. A
writer may be entranced by the way classical writers shape their thoughts but the key to writing
or to any forms of art is still the element of originality. In the process of creating literary art, the
artist should be able to isolate oneself from the daily grind of the world and dive deep to another
universe: a universe of his thoughts. It doesnt matter if he is in a crowd in the street, if he is
sipping his usual morning cup of espresso in a caf or if he is in a grandiose veranda facing a
scenic meet-up of the lush tree tops dragging the clouds downwards. A writer has to master the
skill of solitary confinement. The serenity of shutting down the noise and listening to your inner
soul defines the tranquility of the hard work of writing. There will always be a quiet chaos going
on inside the creative mind of an artist. It is a picturesque of a clutter of perspectives and
experiences that when put together, produces a work of art representative of the willing labor of
the writer to submit himself into the tranquil diligence of writing.