Write like no one's reading

I can't remember where I read that. It could have been one of those inspirational quotes on Pinterest or maybe I read it on someone's blog. In either case, it completely contradicts another piece of advice that I came across somewhere else, which is, to write to an audience. Personally, I find that extremely hard to do. Because, although my audience (such as it is) consists almost entirely of women, they are all so different in personality, that I am not sure to which person in my audience I should be writing. So I write with the notion that no one is reading and, strangely, that seems to be helping me find my voice. After all, in this world of a million blogs, I am just another sentence in a novel. What I have to say, may or may not be of interest - depending on who's reading.
I've long ago resigned myself to the fact that I will never write a novel (though my head is brimming with stories) nor will anyone ever ask me to write a magazine article. But I can live with that, as I can also live with the knowledge that my blog will never attract thousands of hits in one day. I am completely fine with it because I can continue to be myself and to write what I like, without the added pressue of making sure that readers keep on coming. There is a curious liberty in anonymity. I don't even share my blog with my closest friends because, somehow, the interaction with strangers is infinitely more rewarding, more sincere, perhaps. Because these 'strangers' slowly turn into friends and as we read and comment on each others' posts, our lives criss-cross each other like wonderful jigsaw puzzles. You see, they help fill up voids in our life that would otherwise forever remain empty. In spite of the fact that we all try to max out on this one shot we get at life, sometime around my fortieth birthday I realised that no one can ever have it all. That's just an urban myth. The reality is, that we all tend to think the grass is greener on the other side but that our patch could be just as green if we only bothered to water it.

Image via Writing North Idaho

I am sure you're all wondering what I'm babbling about and what the whole point to this rant is. Well, I just wanted to say that we all have our own little niche, and yes, there is a purpose to our sometimes rambling words. We might stumble across each other quite by chance but somewhere deep inside us, we know when we have found a kindred spirit or when someone's writing strikes a chord deep within our psyche; and that is why we keep returning. It is not just about the tenuous connections. It is about the knowledge that we can all be ourselves. Free to explore and discover other worlds within our world. Free to travel vicariously to places that w ould otherwise just be names on a map. Free to share favourite books and recipes; and anything else which catches our fancy. Free to be true to ourselves; to write, like no one's reading.

Image via Writers Write Creative Blog