I have stated many times that I am not a professional writer, nor do I claim to be one. By upbringing, I am a banker, a businessman by passion, and I only became a daily writer over the past three decades by sheer coincidence, driven by the ideas that were simmering in my mind -- ideas I believed were worth sharing. This doesn’t mean they were groundbreaking or superior to anyone else’s thoughts.
As a non-professional writer, the act of daily writing -- putting my thoughts onto paper -- is a challenging task. It often comes with mental fatigue, stress, and the anxiety of questioning whether the article is even worth publishing.
Sometimes, after all the effort, the result can be disheartening, especially when the article doesn’t receive the response or readership I hoped for, for whatever reason.
Still, the act of publishing is preferable, because unexpressed ideas tend to weigh on their owner, begging to be shared. The pressure of publishing, even with limited readership, is far less than the strain of keeping those thoughts locked away, waiting for the right moment to release them.
A writer, like any professional, seeks an audience -- people who will “buy” their ideas or appreciate their work. However, just as those who purchase a product don’t often think about the labor and sacrifices that went into creating it, readers rarely consider the mental, physical, and emotional effort that a writer endures to bring their ideas to life.
Even when I read the work of others, I too don’t always stop to think about the struggle the writer might have faced in crafting their text. This is simply human nature.
For me, writing is more of a demanding hobby than a profession, and one that requires significant mental energy -- writing, reading, revising, and submitting my work to the newspaper.
After all this effort, it is deeply painful when someone, especially a respected friend and colleague, accuses me -- due to a disagreement over politics -- of hiring someone to write my articles.
The sting of such accusations is profound, particularly for a writer like me who doesn’t receive financial compensation for my work. To be accused not only of outsourcing my writing but also of corruption in my business dealings and stealing public money is truly devastating.
There’s no need to delve further into the personal suffering this has caused me. The exhaustion of daily writing speaks for itself. I apologize for sometimes dragging my readers into these personal reflections.
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