Dear Oparawhyte Writer,
I hope this letter offends you. I hope it offends you enough to pick up your pen and write, and should it fail to do so or offend you so much that you drop your pen altogether, you were never a writer to begin with. As such, just write. It can be as short as Gray Love but never stop writing.
See, writing exposes your ignorance. It’s important to know how stupid you are. I would like to add that you should never speak on a subject you have yet to write about because writing is a filtering tool. It separates the wheat of wisdom from the chaff of assumption and ignorance, and many times are there more chaff than wheat! But what is writing? Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of human language.
Understand nonetheless that we do not write simply because we hope that someday someone may slap the title “writer” (a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain”) on our name. No! We write because when we write, we sit in judgement of ourselves for what man may judge a man who has himself already judged. Henrik Ibsen rightly pointed out this when he said, “To write is to sit in judgement of oneself.”
You are your first reader, impress yourself. I know one may read this and be blinded by their illusory beautiful writing style but a writer who has truly written is left feeling undone. See, writing is a summon. It is a summon to read. A writer who seldom reads is a charlatan, a pseudo-intellectual who will lead many astray. Such a writer should be ashamed. Do not be afraid to read.
Sometimes, many do not read because they are simply lazy. A few will not read because they fear they will lose their voice. Look, we find our voice in the voices of others, and should you not, do not fret. After all, Plato describes all art as a form of imitation, or mimesis. Hence, read. Read and never stop reading. Reading illuminates your mind while writing fans the flames. It is therefore safe to say that those who do not read but only write are busy fanning nothing and those who read but seldom write never burn bright enough.
Understand that writing is a prophecy. We call this foreshadowing. To write is to prophesy because writers are prophets. Writers have the power to push the world into another civilization through their texts. On January 2nd we celebrated World Science Fiction Day. This day corroborates my claim. Create your world and make us live in it through the employment of literary techniques that seduce the mind and keep one bound. Make us sit at your feet, devouring every letter in every word you dish out. And you are not too young. Remember, man traveled to the moon one hundred years after a novel about space travel was written. To claim that this novel pushed the boundaries of our minds far into space is not a claim too rich in assumption.
It is equally important to remind ourselves that every piece of writing is a political tool no matter how trivial a topic such piece may so choose to explore. Our ‘Writers For Change Initiative’ (W4CI) was birthed because we acknowledge how powerful a tool writing is. This initiative is not politically motivated nevertheless, at the heart of it is the burning desire to see a change in our society depending on the area of focus.
In all, kingdoms are razed because of a piece of writing just as kingdoms are built because of the same. Many have been executed because of their writing. Many more have been imprisoned for the same and some others exiled. Wikipedia has a page honoring some of these writers. These are testaments to the powers that writing wields. Therefore, write into being the change you wish to see!
Frank Chukwuebuka Clinton,
CEO, Oparawhyte.
