The difference between a writer and a storyteller

Of course this is the way I define it for a variety of reasons.

A Storyteller might never write anything down at all but just be capable of speaking in public combined with sharing things in a certain kind of way that intrigues people.

Whereas a good writer can do this but in addition to this can also edit properly too. So, I guess my definition of a good writer is a storyteller who can edit their work well.

So, though I might consider myself to be a good storyteller I wouldn't by any stretch of the imagination call myself a good writer simply because I really hate to edit whatever I write (beyond spelling and context).

So, mostly when I write it is like reading what a storyteller does verbally set to print.

I would say it takes about 10 to 100 times as long to edit something you write than it does usually to write it in the first place. And since I like to write but hate to edit you can see this in my writing.

For example, the most time I ever spent editing was with my "memories"series at dragonofcompassion.com

I would say that for that first 11 parts to that I spent 100 hours editing for every hour I spent writing. This was between 1999 and 2002 when I did this. And what I learned from that is even with a ratio of 1 hour of writing to 100 hours of editing I likely need to edit twice that to make it perfect to my sensibilities. This was when I realized since I'm not getting paid to do this that I would stop trying so hard to edit what I do and just share what I can when I can instead.

It's also why many people cannot blog like me because they are perfectionists. From my point of view sometimes you just have to share stuff with people before you are dead whether it's perfectly edited or not.

This is how I have always seen what I'm doing when I blog. For example, I'm 71 now and how much longer can I effectively blog or write stuff anyway? Is it 20 to 30 years left or have I already passed over into some new territory as a storyteller who would like to be a writer but who doesn't feel he has the time yet to do it that way.

After all, when I first started blogging I just came out of believing I was going to die for 8 months in 1998 and 1999 until may of 1999. So, each day after that I was sharing what I could before I died.

It's sort of funny now that this fall I will have been alive and retired after that for 21 years! Fancy That!

So, blogging, traveling, and great friends and great kids and great grandkids have served me well in extending my life far beyond what I expected.

By God's Grace