To Be or Not to Be a Writer

I have been a reader ever since I started reading in my school days. Reading turns out to be a constant source of pleasure to me. What do I read actually? Well! Anything that's catchy and intriguing. Catchy defines the titles of articles and books or news as well. Catchy can be the style of writing by the authors too. If the novelist does not excite my interest in the first few pages of the book it turns me off. If the article does not hold an inventive style and a useful information then again I have to buzz it off. The news has to be catchy for sure because the readers need something to excite their interest after all.

I remember visiting the library for the first time with my father in my childhood. It was a really cozy place filled with book shelves according to their genres. That really excited my interest in the reading right at the spot. I became a regular visitor to the libraries and book shops afterward. There happened to be certain books that made me the reader in true sense of words:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The title suggests its a story about an orphan girl 'Jane'. I would not spoil the story by indulging in the summary here instead i would like to add my reasons of likeness for the novel by sharing my favorite cliches from it.

As Jane puts it, “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.”

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will."

"I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give."

Ah! This play I have read in my graduate studies. To be honest Shakespeare has made me a philosopher come reader. His philosophy of 'Hamartia' has opened up a whole new world of literature in front of me. His universality of language and characterization has lead me to believe in morbid power of human nature. How creepy and cruel creatures we the humans are in pursuit of our worldly goals and momentary happiness when at the end nothing remains forever. This whole quote proves so near to my heart after reading this play even today:

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

Scarlett O'Hara: After all, tomorrow is another day!

This sums up the novel to me. The story of a headstrong woman named 'Scarlett O Hara'. She is the stubborn, the charming and the unbeatable soul of this creation of Margaret remains still alive in readers' heart forever. The people liked the character of 'Rhett Butler' more to Scarlett but no I am a 'feminist' at heart so its Miss O Hara the real show stopper of the novel to me. In fact this master piece has turned me a Feminist reader in real sense of words with such cheeky yet relatable quotes to be quoted and read again and again in life:

"Rhett Butler: Did you ever think of marrying just for fun?

Scarlett O'Hara: answers: Marriage, fun? Fiddle-dee-dee. Fun for men you mean.

Rhett Butler: I can't go all my life waiting to catch you between husbands.

Scarlett O'Hara: You'd rather live with that silly little fool who can't open her mouth except to say "yes" or "no" and raise a passel of mealy-mouthed brats just like her.

Scarlett O'Hara: Sir, you are no gentleman. (to Rhett)

Rhett Butler: reply: And you, Miss, are no lady."

"Perhaps - I want the old days back again and they'll never come back, and I am haunted by the memory of them and of the world falling about my ears."

"Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is."

"I'd cut up my heart for you to wear."

"You're so brutal to those who love you, Scarlett. You take their love and hold it over their heads like a whip."

• Self respect is far important than a moment of happiness at a wrong place with a wrong person.
• Honor and happiness are private, associated to your own self never try to find it in any other human being.
• Love is too expensive to be bought by sacrificing your own self in the delusion of love.
• Destiny is not responsible for our failure in fact it is the character flaw of our own personality that leads us to the downfall.
• True love is always unconditional and devoid of facts & figures of present, past and future.
• Tomorrow is surely another day in life.

Writing is interrelated with reading. The one needs to be a good fond reader first to opt for a serious writing in life. I have been an extensive reader for a long period of time. I just love reading so much that I read anything I get my hands on. Being in the literary profession for almost a decade or so I feel like I eat,drink & sleep 'Reading'. So I should pursue writing seriously.

This I often ask of my self if am I a writer now? For seeking answer to my query I am trying to be a writer via hub-pages. I have been writing on and off for local bodies like magazines and newsletter but now looking to move to a level up by opting for the international platform of writing. The statistics to my this article are going to pave my road map to the next level of 'writing'. I would like to conclude here at this note:

"If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write."
– Somerset Maugham