Of Marxists & Bloggers: The Writer’s Manifesto

Publishers used to try their best to keep trash off the market (unless they were particularly strapped for cash that year), or at least clean up the frightful grammatical atrocities most contemporary writers inflict on their readers. Now with the bittersweet advent of self-publishing and inhibited blogging, formerly caged writers have discovered a sneaky, unhindered route around those gatekeepers. Today everyone with a WordPress account can add “writer” to their Twitter profile.

Admittedly, I have taken advantage of this unpoliced state of anarchy myself, and feel it holds an invaluable station in the literary canon. But one of the unfortunate spin-offs of unshackled creative energy is the compulsive need to justify one’s existence. This potent desire for validation has proliferated a genre that used to be reserved for disgruntled proletariat Marxists, union dock workers, and the like.

The niche of which I speak is the manifesto.

A manifesto is a document outlining a set of ideals or principles by which to live.

Many of these manifestos are cheesy and unhelpful. They go like this:

Even if you’re bad at writing, you can still tell people you’re a writer and expect overnight success; just look at Stephanie Meyer and her Vampire pulp empire.
Don’t listen to critics, they’re just jealous that you have more free time than they do.
Don’t worry that your grammar are bad. (Sorry, I meant grammars are bad.)
Publishers don’t know what they’re talking about, that’s why Al Gore gave us the Internet.
Send this manifesto (and a link to my blog) to 10 friends, or you won’t be a real writer.

K. M. Weiland’s offering is an exception. Her blog deservedly sports the coveted (though garishly colored) badge of honor for “Top Ten for Writers.” It’s well-worth the visit to Wordplay. [Another one worth checking out is the free eBook Jeff Goins gives his subscribers at goinswriter.com]

Weiland’s pithy “Manifesto for Writers” is the most concise and helpful I’ve read. It encapsulates perfectly the essence of what it takes to be a writer…

[Mysteriously invisible on phones. Sorry, you'll have to visit the site.]