toeknee

Writing

My creative writing class has been reading a book of short stories called This New & Poisonous Air.  Today, the author, Adam McOmber, was in class discussing writing and the creative process.  It was probably my favorite class ever.

I really loved hearing about how he finds inspiration, what kinds of things he draws inspiration from, what his goals are in writing, what he likes about writing, and even how he starts writing (sloppy, off-the-line, long-hand in a composition notebook, if you were wondering).  There were so many moments when I related so closely to what he was saying.  Hearing him speak was extremely refreshing.

When I was five years old, I remember tracing pictures of animals onto pieces of paper, stapling them together, and, because I didn’t know how to use spell very well at the time, using my sister as a scribe to write down a story about how cutting down trees is bad.  It was a pretty simple story, but it’s my earliest memory of personal writing, and it was something I did completely from my own desire.

Since then, I’ve gone in and out as far as writing on a regular basis, but in those seventeen years, nothing has ever made me feel the way writing does.  It’s an incredible feeling to create a world and fill it with realistic people with deeply felt emotions and relatable problems — to write purely for the high of coming up with something truly genuine and passionate.  

I feel like I’ve gotten down on myself and told myself it’s impractical, or I’m simply not talented enough to convey all of these magnificent things to another human being through a story.  But today, I sat three feet away from a man who is doing it, who sacrificed everything in his life to focus on his dream, and who is succeeding.  I realized that, yeah, it’s fucking difficult, but there’s no doubt that every moment is worth it.

I can’t commit that kind of focus to writing right now, but I feel like I actually have a goal in mind, and I really believe it is attainable.

  1. tonyhead posted this