A Shout into the Void

     I understand now why people throughout the centuries have always discouraged the next generation from becoming writers. Writing is an entirely lonely vocation. You're by yourself, scribbling thoughts and feelings and dreams down in the most raw and utterly vulnerable sense, and no one cares.

     To write is to be alone and to have chosen solitude. To have chosen to have a voice that screams and wails and keens into the darkness.

     They say that when a tree falls in the forest alone it makes no sound, but believe me, when I am alone with my thoughts and I pound out stories, it's far from silent. There is too much noise, too much feeling, and I know that no one will ever catch wind of it because this is the path that I have chosen for myself.

     When you have another talent, a great talent, you're not alone. You can get views on that amazing speed painting, that singing video, the dance challenge, the makeup tutorial. When you excel at things like those, you are heard. And people long to hear what you have to say.

     But when you write... it's a struggle even to get people to listen to a single word. You can go about it like a blogger, a wattpad author, and get all of your content out there for free. No one has to pay to read what you write except for you. And that in itself is a struggle. To be noticed is a struggle. To raise your voice above the thousands that already shriek for attention is a struggle.

     Then we have the even harder way. You write a story, you write hundreds of letters, and you wait for months and months strung together for a reply. You wait for anything, and when your reply comes, even if it's a rejection, you get a stirring of relief inside, because my god, someone actually heard your voice.

     But I digress. I've done way too much talking lately, shouting into the void. In my journal, in poems, and now, here. I'm getting better at speaking my mind and getting it all out in an orderly fashion, so I should be happy. Trouble is, I'm not.

     I want to be heard.

     So my word to you (and myself also) for today is simply this: Learn to be content with only the sound of your own words echoing back to you, and maybe, hopefully, prayerfully, someone else's words will come rumbling back along with your echo. You are not a tree that falls in the forest, you are a living, feeling being, and your voice will be heard. Give it time, give it patience, run with endurance, and eventually you will see the fruit of your labor.

     Never give up.

     ~Alyssa