A recent suggestion from my group at Inkwell was to write about an experience that helps us through the bad patches of writing. Something has to keep us going when even our hearts aren't in our writing, right? We all need some happy place to help shelter us through the rough days. One such experience was in college; I keep the paper I wrote not for the grade but because of what went behind it.
For years I held myself back because I didn't really believe that I could be a writer. Any chances I got in school were too conformist: so many pages long; margins and font set just right; a type of writing; a voice. Those assignments inspired all the passion of a paint-by-numbers picture. Taking a leap into an old desire I signed up for an advanced writing class in college.
Our assignments were left so open to us that most of us had to ask three or four times the first week to make sure we understood the rules--which, boiled down, were to turn the assignments in on time without cheating. Having a sudden freedom to write, I sat down with assignment number two and felt ideas rushing into my mind. I scrambled for a pen and some paper and the words streamed down my arm and across the pages. I was writing for myself instead of not for a teacher. My grade didn't matter (okay, it did a little) because it was my story. I owned that story; or, rather, it owned me.
I knew then that I could write. It hasn't been a clear and easy path since then, of course, but I can go back there when needed. Anyone else have an experience like that to share?
Great post. I didn't take any advanced writing classes in college. I wish I had.
ReplyDeleteLiz
The college I went to allowed you to take Creative Writing twice for credit :)
ReplyDeleteI'm still in touch with the professor, and he's still one of my best motivators.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing about all this, Rich, is that I had a HARD time growing up comprehending things I read. I struggled with my English classes. I had to take a prewriting course at the University. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteI'd never had dreamed--that with my passion of weaving stories as I grew up--that I'd be a writer of books. BOOKS! When I couldn't understand them and felt frustrated that I couldn't strike a good grade.
I did take a Creative Writing Course in high school and fell deeper in love with writing.
I guess no one should ever underestimate themselves and most of all, NEVER ever give up! ;)