April 3, 2008
Pain and Pleasure
Lord Byron, one of my favorite poets once wrote:
“If I don’t write to empty my mind, I go mad. As to that regular, uninterrupted writing … I do not understand it. I feel it as a torture, which I must get rid of, but never as a pleasure. On the contrary, I think composition a great pain.”
Sooooooo, dear writer, where do you fall in this? Is writing a pleasant compulsion or an unavoidable torture? How do you feel about the above quote? Is there some part (how ever small) that resonates with you?
Compulsion is probably the rigth word! I have always HAD to write–from a single digit age. And I can tell when I haven’t writen enough–my e-mails tend to get very verbose and … odd. The writing will find a way out… so when I get weird, I know I need to get my arse in the chair and start cranking something out–hopefully it will be useful–but always neccessary!
and I LOVE that quote!
Uniterrupted writing is a pleasure. Nothing better than being ‘in the zone’. However, it sucks *not* to write when you want to, so I kinda get his madnes thing.
Ah yes, the infamous Lord Byron…”mad, bad, and dangerous to know.”
Writing will do that to a person, lol.
Agree with Jaq. There are times it is a definite pleasure. When you’re in the zone, when you can look at something you’ve written at some time and think it’s good, or when some great inspiration hits out of the blue–definite pleasure.
But yes, there are times when it’s a compulsion, almost a need, that can drive you in an effort to find its way out.
Lovely painting, good quote.
You.Are. NOT. A hack.
Your writing is too good, too lovely, for that dirty word.
Somedays writing is pain. Somedays writing is pleasure. More often it is both.
I’m with Gina. Writing can be a pain. Getting/staying published is a pain.
Writing can be an inconvenient compulsion. But I do think Byron is being a bit overdramatic. I think Byron sounds more like a whiny rock star. I guess it depends. Sometimes I get great pleasure from writing. To be honest, that was more in the beginning, before I made any decisions as to a writing future. I can’t write for the pure pleasure of writing anymore. And while I miss that element, I’m a better writer for letting it go. But I think the Byron quote goes too far. We who write are truly fortunate to have the desire and ability to turn our thoughts into words.