On Being Read
It is a scary thing being read.
It was one of my biggest fears. A predator of sorts.
And one of the most precious gifts you can give to a writer; reading them and letting them know. Because not being read too is a scary thing, or perhaps a scared and lonely being. Both are so very alive on the path of becoming a writer and sharing stories.
As writers, all we can do is to find our own ways to engage with them, get stronger, hone our skills, shed our skins, deepen our connections and learn how to behave in their presence because, as long as we write, they will be around lurking in the shadows, dancing out in the daylight naked, troubling us and those around, assuming the form of familiar and/or unfamiliar faces and causing havoc.
Writer’s path is a path to vulnerability. It is risky and it is dangerous. It takes time to build relationships within and without that can sustain one on this very creative and equally destructive path. Once you have formed an inner and outer environment for yourself to write and have done your work, now comes sharing and being read. Sparking curiosity, snitching people’s time, keeping them engaged, gaining their trust, growing mutual respect, cultivating readership, creating ecosystems that can sustain and feed your stories and your human takes time. It’s terrifying to invite others into your imagination, into the deepest parts of your human and be invited in theirs.
Not everyone takes the leap, not everyone is taken by the leap, not everyone survives the leap.
Last year, being read split a sea inside me, created a path and allowed me to finish writing a story. I wrote a book because I loosened my claws, allowed my first draft to meet with another and be read. It was a giant lesson. A Lesson Giant.
Not only being read, of course, but also being held and receiving notes, feedback, tomatoes, criticism, smiles, curiosities on what I wrote. From someone whom I respect. From someone with whom I have been in creative partnership for over sixteen years. She saw my struggles as well as my gifts. I needed what she gave me like I needed air, water, food, movement and sleep. They helped me to keep on writing and to write better.
I never had a second draft before, only first drafts. When I finally finished my second draft, I understood from my lived experience what other writers meant with writing and getting the first draft out as quickly as possible. Because the first draft is the raw material that is needed, nothing more nothing less.
The difference between the first and second was mind-boggling even though the story was quite the same. My editor and I had a hard time believing how different the second draft was from the first one. Once the magic and medicine of being read became apparent to us both and we shifted things. We did not wait for the second draft to be over before she began reading. She actively read me, as I actively rewrote. I wrote chapters and I fed her those. And she read and wrote me notes. Then she waited enthusiastically for me to share more. That process was one of the most healing journeys I have ever had.
Being read and imagined with are apparently my keys to writing fantasy stories.
They unlock me, they unlock my stories.
The stories that choose to me as their storyteller and I both have the tendency to stay mysterious, hidden and unwritten. We love to dream and imagine eternally… Yet with a book in the process of being published out in the western side of my world, in a language I cannot read or write; the field is being altered and the stories are changing. Now, I know my task is to write the first draft faster, get it out on the paper, love it no matter how horrid it is and dare being read.
Thank you for being here and reading. And good luck on your own paths.
Gizem Gizegen, 2025 Istanbul, ☉ Pisces ☽ Taurus ♀ stations retro in Aries
A Few Planet-Keeping Whispers
I am changing and shifting some things on my Substack. I may be celebrating the Chinese new year, the snake year secretly. You may have noticed them, or you’ll read now, or not. You may want to close your eyes then, because I am about to write and share.
My Substack address, subdomain has become my name, gizemgizegen.substack.com1 I am owning my peculiar to western ears and minds name. My publication’s name also changed, now it is Storytelling Planet. I am posting more notes and trying to share&store some art and words that inspire me, as well as pieces of my creativity. I also opened a chat where I’ve shared two Earth visionaries, scholars, elders, I respect, and you are invited. Let me know if you can not find the chat and/or the notes, we can look for them together.
I decided to be more on the Substack and find writers and storytellers that are from different parts of the world and sharing stories of their places, cultures, wilderness and creativities. I’m reading and letting them know that I read, that I like, by leaving a mark, a comment, a paw etc. I will put them under my recommendations soon, so you can find the ones I have found. This is one of my Venus retrograde tasks. I’d love it if you share some voices, some writers, you read and like in the comments for me and other readers to see.
My First Book, La Graine is available for pre-orders
You can buy it through my French publisher, La Fourmi Editions’ website. As you may know, pre-orders help the independent publishing houses and the authors tremendously. Even though you are not French and you don’t read in French, you may know someone who is or who does. Perhaps you consider gifting someone La Graine. The pre-sale is available only through the website of La Fourmi and they ship internationally.
You can read about La Graine, the Seed here. And its first chapter in English here.
Gizem is my given name, means mystery in my mother tongue.
Gizegen is my artist name, means mystery’s planet. It is a word play I have made about sixteen years ago. Gizem + Gezegen (planet in Turkish) = Gizegen