Write Today, Whether It Works or Not, That's What Makes You a Writer

I've heard people say not to write with negative thoughts. They meant things like, 'I'm going to fail,' or 'I want to escape reality.' Don't think like that when you write.

But writing isn't that simple. Some pick up a pen to achieve their goals, while others use it to escape reality. Only the writer themselves knows which motivation is right. What matters is that they're writing, whether it's driven by positivity or negativity.

In Lee Gi-ju's <The Universal Word>, he recalls the day he turned on his laptop and decided to escape his company. His writing stemmed from a strong desire to get away from his job. Like this, sometimes our desire to escape from something can lead us down a new path.

Writing is a tool for organizing thoughts and expressing oneself. No matter what thoughts you have, the act of putting them out into the world through writing is important. Writing has the power to transform negative thoughts into positive actions. Whether it's successful or not, writing today. That might be the greatest gift we can get from writing.

▶ Even now, when I turn on my laptop to write a manuscript and rest my hands on the dark keyboard, the memory of the day I first decided to escape from my company comes flooding back.

Looking back now, I think I was able to have that mindset not because my ambition to become a writer was so strong, but rather because my desire to escape from the company was incredibly intense. Perhaps I stepped onto an unfamiliar path not because of a yearning for something, but rather because of a desire to break free from something.

-Lee Gi-ju, The Universal Word