So You Wanna Be A Writer by Charles Bukowski

I just had to do it.

🔰References

-The narrator is Tom Bedlam

-The music
Alice In Winter - Hold This Place

🔰Communities

🔰My equipment:
I film handheld with a Panasonic Lumix
G80
GX80
📷Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 45mm F1.8 Lens

🔰So you wanna be a writer

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.

if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.
and there never was.

[leeyounghee]

"The libraries of the world have yawned themselves to sleep over your kind." I have never heard an insult this beautiful ever in my life.

[ReubenStrickett]

While there is a certain beauty in the concept of creativity being unstoppable, and only worth pursuing if it consumes you entirely, this is an all too romanticised perspective. In reality, creativity and inspiration ebbs and flows, and sometimes you do have to search for words, or struggle to express yourself. This merely idealises unattainable perfection, something none of us can attain, and perpetuates the idea that if you aren't a born natural, there is no purpose in the pursuit of that which creatively challenges you - ultimately one of the most rewarding things that life can offer.

[julesmkr]

“If you have been chosen,
It will do it by itself,
And it will keep on doing it,
Until you die,
Or it dies in you”

This is honestly a purely blunt and raw line. I don’t think anyone could write it like Bukowski.

[hormishrimp]

honestly feels like he‘s challenging us to…do it

[ikpergerard]

If this discourages you from being a writer, then you really ain't ready, don't do it

[debsholander]

I like to believe that not all good writers have ever been published.

[DEADLYDRIBBLER]

"... until you die or it dies in you. there is no other way, and there never was... " 🔥🔥

[hemanthkotagiri]

"When it is truly time,
if you have been chosen,
it will do it by itself,
and it will keep on doing it,
until you die.
- Or, it dies in you.
There is no other way,
and there never was."

To me, this is the most profound collection of sentences I've ever read about writing.

[cinnamonbun]

It's not about being passionate 24/7 it's about letting you own emotions out or creativity out just for the sake of it. And nothing else. When you are writing a book yes it's a long process but I think what he means here is don't be the commercial writers who pick up on the trend. Know what people will buy and write stuff about it. It may be good. It may be a bestseller. But you are not a writer. It has come from inside you and you would have done it even if nobody reads it. I think he emphasised Writing not for people but writing what you feel and just letting people know this is what I feel

[vinesdesign]

Part of me thinks he may have written this as a kind of "test". Like he knows that most of this is really horrible advice, but that the authentically desirous writer (or any other creative for that matter) will hear this and think "Kick rocks, old man. I struggle to write and I still love it and I'm still going to do it." As if the wisdom he's trying to *actually* impart can be reduced to "If anyone can convince you that you ought not write . . . don't do it".

Otherwise, if he wrote all of this genuinely at the surface level, then I disagree with almost everything he says. haha!

[malgallegos]

Don't write for the sake of writing but for the sake of expressing yourself.

[Allaboutstory]

What he said in this poem has meaning when you study his life. He was writing when he had not enough money or fame. He got fame in his 50s and he was still writing. What he is talking about the Spirit of writing including struggles and avoiding cliches. His words are not depressive, mostly misinterpreted.

[thej.spirejournal]

“If you have been chosen, it will do it by itself.” Beautiful.

[tylertheleper]

I want to do it, but nearly everything he described was me. This kinda made me feel like it's ok not to do it. I thought that maybe I was just lazy, bouncing ideas around in my head while at work, only to get home and be too tired to go through the strain of writing. The thought of sitting in silence while putting down words that I know that anyone with 'real' talent would pick apart with cynical scrutiny is like crawling on all fours over shards of glass. Asking people to read my work and hear back only what I did wrong and how they would change it to suit their style. Begging friends and family to see what I killed myself for only to receive vague responses of lukewarm praise, or they simply never have time.

I'm angry. I'm disappointed. I thought that writing something entertaining would be something that people could want from me. No one really cares. True, my dad likes my stories but I don't think he understands anything I put down. His son is putting words together that just sound like 'something'. I've heard the phrase "write for yourself" thrown at me over and over again. Why? So I can sit in silence and read it to myself knowing that it isn't good enough for anyone else. I know whoever reads this is likely a writer, one who doesn't understand my whining. Just move on. Treat me like a wounded dog on the side of the street and steer clear of me. I'm foaming at the mouth and I am contentious, I want to bite you. Hard. Because I want what you have. I want to write and prove that I am a force to be reckoned with, that I am worth everyone's time. That I can touch a heart, excite the mind, encourage the soul. I can. It will be on my time though. It will be by my rules. By my style. I will do it the way I want to do it because life has given little of what I want. I can make this choice and follow through with my ideas...

And I suppose after typing this rant I now see what he meant. I appreciate you for reading this. I know it was bitter. I'm sorry. It wasn't against you. It was against myself. My heart is in these paragraphs and I hope you can see that it was honest.

[ronaldfitten]

He's not writing to the reader. He's writing to himself. Reminding . . . himself.

[kenzieh]

Been writing like crazy for the past 6 months and I can’t even describe what this feels like. I feel like I’m drowning and taking my first breath all at once. It’s all I think about. And when I’m supposed to be thinking of something else, I can’t. I am consumed by writing, my own and others. I don’t know how not to write, even when I shouldn’t.

[a.m.scape_]

I love this because it applies to anyone and anything someone is doing with their life. Hold it to this standard and if you do, do it. You can’t possibly fail.

[fabricofdreams.]

I don't really agree with what he says though. It is work to write a book, no matter what he says, and you ARE a real writer if you're struggling in the process. Believe in yourself because you can do this and it doesn't have to come to you easily for you to achieve it.

[tommytwo-times]

every single thing he mentioned as a reason for ‘not doing it, ’ is something every writer faces.

[MindofMeowOfficial]

Every time I watch this, I cry. I can feel every word that he speaks. I am a writer. It has been burning in my soul since I was nine years old. I have tried to forget it. I have tried to do something else. It always comes back, burning hotter, every time.