Zack Vayda and "We Were Eight Years in Power"

We Were Eight Years in Power took me longer than I would like to admit. I find his writing to be similar to either where I am now or where I’m heading, but there is no denying it is wordy. It’s a long book, too, and while I look forward to continually opening my eyes to racial injustice, to an outsider, a long book of heavy words isn’t what I would call “easy reading.” Nor would I want it to be; the subject demands its weight.

The Evolution of Writing

His collection of essays are linked by autobiographical entries where Nehisi-Coates monologues about what was happening in his personal life, mainly centered on his writing. I’m finding value in hearing his evolution in his writing and how he felt at each step. In one entry, he says:

“I would like to tell you that I am a man of small and internal motives, that I do not write for the world but in flagrant disregard of it. This view of things underrates the world that shaped me, in both its rejections and its acceptances. Perhaps I was born to write. But more likely, I simply wasn’t born to much else. The path never felt so much chosen so much as an arranged marriage that somehow grew into a loving home.”

This perspective is exactly how I feel about my relation to writing. I have been writing as long as I can remember, even through times of my life when I wouldn’t commit to any level of responsibility. It’s almost as if I’ve always believed writing would be my “arranged marriage,” and only recently has it become a “loving home.” It’s reassuring to hear a successful writer say his path has felt similar to how I feel about my own path.

The History of Writing

Nehisi-Coates says his inspiration was the black authors he read from in his youth. I, of course, was not even aware of meaningful and intentional topics, but I did read a lot. Sure, I was reading Harry Potter and Eragon, but this has helped me realize my habit of reading was almost certainly the catalyst that has helped me become someone that writes regularly. I remember trying to convince Dad of the value of reading fantasy and science fiction books, how they inspired imagination, and reading of any kind is healthier than not. Well, it looks like I’m well on my way to proving my point. So, take that, Dad.

Coates also describes how much of his early years of writing felt like his style took the shape of whatever environment he was in or whatever literature he was consuming. This is very much how I feel. Coates is wordy, precise, and analytical, which is what my writing has reflected since I began reading his book a few days ago. Before him, my writing focused more on emotions, imagery and simplicity, similar to Tara Westover’s style of writing. I’m alright with this, for now, because I believe it to be an essential step in the process of learning what my style is. I need to know what’s out there, to try it on, and to adapt the aspects that feel right and set aside those that don’t. Coates also mentioned how writing is simply taking information and restructuring it to better appeal to different audiences. If this is true, the only two factors that would allow an individual to rise above the rabble to any level of recognition is chance and uniqueness. I have no control over chance, so my best chance of success, at any point, is to offer readers a different style and perspective than what’s already out there. If I can’t, then I’m the same as everyone else.

The Motivation

Ta-Nehisi Coates described how he learned early on his writing couldn’t be for others. He described how being a writer means a constant rejection, a current pulling you in the opposite direction of your goal. Bad reviews, deals cut, failed projects, the list goes on. The only remedy for that, in his perspective, is doing it for yourself. He wrote, “My reasons for writing had to be my own, divorced from expectation. There would be no reward.” I began writing my own book last year primarily because of how I believed it would be received by the world. Only secondarily did I start it as a way to condense and express the important lessons I’ve learned for a future version of myself that might need a concise reminder of the cause. I’m simply not sure if that’s good enough a reason to write a book. From what I’ve seen so far in life, the more expectations I have for something, the better chance I’ll be let down. Conversely, the more I focus my energies on doing things because they give me life, purpose, and direction, the better chance opportunities will present themselves. If I spent the rest of my life in pursuit of a lucrative life as a best-selling author and never got there, I would have wasted some of my best attributes. However, if I spent the rest of my life developing my skills, writing about things I care about, and give future versions of myself a third-person perspective to keep me on the straight-and-narrow, then I will have lived a full, purposeful life.