MKS Cooper - Thoughts about the world of writing!

Dear Reader.

Our writing group at the Massillon Public Library recently published an anthology of poetry titled "Writing Is". Each writer in our group contributed original poetry, meant to convey what it means to be a writer. One of my contributed poems is titled:

HARD

"Writing is hard because writing words down means more than their sound, makes them lasting and real, makes you feel what you try to hide and deny.

When you need words to last, not get lost in the past you cry and you sigh but write the words anyway. Otherwise, who can say how it would have turned out? Written words, no doubt, have clout, and staying power.

Spoken words can be heard then forgotten in an hour, flown out of the mind like a startled bird, nevermore to be seen like written words, or heard."

Writing is hard. For the writer it means hours alone at the keyboard, or like some in our group, pen to paper, writing in longhand, as they did before the invention of typewriters and computers. Think of Charles Dickens, Mary Shelley, Shakespeare. For friends and loved ones of the writer, it's the loss of companionship and conversation they used to enjoy, because the writer is hard at work, writing.

So, we who write offer apologies for dinners not served on time, for errands not accomplished, for conversations unspoken. We ask your forgiveness for ignoring you. We value your friendship, your love, and patience, and your understanding that we may never become famous from writing a book that sells only a few copies, the block-buster movie based on the book that is never seen on the screen, but sits, instead, at the back of the highest shelf, gathering dust, unread.

Writing is our hope of contributing something of worth to this planet that we call home. Please accept our humble efforts as a gift of love, offered to you by that unique individual in your life who is,

A Writer. . .