Do you have one of those friends that are always saying “don’t interrupt me” when you’re having a conversation with them? On your side of things, you’re thinking— conversations are all about interrupting. You say something, I say something, you say something, etc. It’s not supposed to be a diatribe. It’s a conversation! These “don’t interrupt me” people are annoying to people who enjoy actual conversation. The thing is, though:
those people are writers and don’t know it.
The whole idea of being a writer is that you get to say what you want without being interrupted. Because you do it on paper. You can say it exactly the way you want to say it, phrase things perfectly, and make sure you’re not misunderstood. That’s the whole idea, folks. If you’re one of those people who always wants to finish your point in a conversation and resents actually, you know, conversing, then you might actually be a frustrated writer.
If you have things you like to rant and rave about, go off about, philosophize about, and you find your friends are not appropriately obedient in their willingness to listen to all this folderol at length, just know there is nothing wrong with you or with your friends. Your friends want to participate in actual conversation rather than listen to you deliver a screed, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You, however, have a world-changing diatribe to deliver and there is nothing wrong with that, either. It’s just a matter of finding the right medium.
Diatribes are for writing. Banter is for conversations. Now you know.
When you write your screed, you are then faced with what to do with it. This stresses some people out because there are so many options in today’s world. You can post it as a blog—a popular choice. You can also publish it on a forum like Medium or Reddit or some other online thing where people publish their manifestos and whatnot. That’s fine. You can nail it to the church door, too, although that method of publication has somewhat gone out of style. If it’s a very long screed, you could even publish it as a book. If you’re embarrassed about it, you could fictionalize it and publish it as a novel under an assumed name. I mean there are so many ways to get your viewpoint to the masses. The medium should really depend upon the message, though. See next blog!