Dear World

Please Kill Me,

Greetings and happy Tuesday (or as referred to in the U.S. – seventeen days before Trump evicts Obama from the White House #TypicalRacsim).

Anyway, Morality ( otherwise known as the thing that someone forgot to tell Wall Street about).

So, as most of you probably know- I’m sort of a HUGE Stephen King fanboy (#IStalkHisDreams #Don’tJudge).- with that comes an extensive knowledge of his works (as well as his home address).

In my most recent endeavor into the Dark Prince’s world -I’ve begun working my way through his latest book The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. As I powered through some expectedly disturbing  stories, one in particular caught my attention. That story is Morality. (from which this post has stolen it’s namesake).

I’ll try not to spoil any of the details, but the jist of it it, is a husband ad wife are offered a proposal (by a creepy old man of course #Cosby #NeverForget) – that promises to exponentially improve their lives- at the cost of some unforeseen consequences. (Spoilers: They both end up having serious physical and mental breakdowns – leading to their separation) …. What!? I said #Spoilers.

Though, this may not directly correlate to anything to you guys on the surface – I saw it as something that could directly correlate to the career of a struggling writer. (Minus the whole sadomasochistic stuff…. or not. Hey it’s your life man. #NoJudgement #ALittleJudgement).

As creatives we deal with a fair amount of difficulty attaining success. And as we should. A job worth having is a job worth working to attain. However, I notice a growing trend of writers “selling their morality” so to speak – in exchange for the promise of achieving their goals more quickly. We’re all flawed for considering this – however we should be similarly adamant about remaining true to who we are as creatives.

Sure, it may seem like an easy task to write that rip off pop-fiction novel, “how to” self help book, (50 shades of blah, blah blah) etc. But by doing so, simply for the sake of the “quick buck” as opposed to writing the passion that flows in our veins, are we not congruently diminishing our creative selves?

*steps onto soapbox

“SHOULD WE NOT ANSWER THE LION THAT CALLS US? ARE WE MERELY APPEASERS TO SOFTENED FLOCK?”

(Well, since I’m on the soapbox…I kind of have to say this irrelevant thing.)

“ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED??!!!!”

*steps off soapbox

“Sorry about that”.

Anyway, my point is that it’s important to remain true to who you are as a writer. When you fall into the temptation of indulging in “what will sell” as opposed to what you must communicate to the world- you lose a bit of yourself – the bit of yourself that is driven to make a difference, the bit that is willing to push the boundaries of possible – and drift into what might be (the bit that leaves the toilet seat up on purpose?).

Keep your artistic morals – and hold steadfast in the belief that it’s who you must be. Keep that in mind, and no matter the conclusion to your story – it will be a worthy one – pure and uncheapened by chasing the low hanging fruit.

(Or don’t. I don’t really care.)

Now, back to the depths with you,

-Antwan Crump.