I realized recently that I am a writer. This probably sounds funny to those of you who have been reading my blog for the past three years. But the process of becoming anything is just that…a process. We become step by step. Sometimes the steps are tiny. Sometimes the steps are huge.
I began three years ago with this blog. I didn’t know at the time that writing anything (other than news) three times a week was ambitious until some newspaper people told me. So I did it. Of course, as with anything we do long enough it became easier and my writing improved. My biggest surprise was how long it could take to get 600 words just right.
I had a lot to learn about writing and about my audience. Some of the simplest “just get it done” blog entries have been the most passed around while the ones I worked really hard on did nothing. I learned that I can never tell what will strike a chord with someone or what won’t.
I also learned that as with any art form the finished product is often very different from what it started out to be. Things seem to take on a life of their own as you get going on them.
This past year I started a few other writing projects. I am working on a play and interviewing people for a book while writing a completely different book. I am jumping the hurdles that come with changing writing styles i.e. the play is spoken words written down, the blog is my thoughts hopefully written clearly for others and both books are completely different. It has taken me some time to acquire the skill needed to jump back and forth.
The biggest surprise has been that more and more I find myself “thinking” like a writer. I scribble notes everywhere, a line of a song, a personal story, a billboard, an ad, a newspaper, etc. I find ideas in all these places. I have a blog notebook full of blog ideas and another one for my other projects. My family has become used to me stopping everything to write down a thought. My notes are on store receipts, scraps of paper, my hand, and anything I find at the moment.
These are all telltale signs that I am becoming a writer but the biggest sign…the one that made me truly realize that my thought process had changed was this: on a twelve hour road trip with a friend from church, I found myself constantly annoyed with the book on tape we were listening to. I voiced my thoughts a few too many times and was told (kindly) to just shut up! It was terrible writing and I couldn’t see past that to even enjoy the story which could have been good if the writing hadn’t been so bad.
This was the moment that I knew…I am a writer. As a reader, I would have disliked the book for the same reasons but I wouldn’t have been rewriting it in my head which was exactly what I was doing. I hope this phase doesn’t last too long. I used to love to read. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
I began three years ago with this blog. I didn’t know at the time that writing anything (other than news) three times a week was ambitious until some newspaper people told me. So I did it. Of course, as with anything we do long enough it became easier and my writing improved. My biggest surprise was how long it could take to get 600 words just right.
I had a lot to learn about writing and about my audience. Some of the simplest “just get it done” blog entries have been the most passed around while the ones I worked really hard on did nothing. I learned that I can never tell what will strike a chord with someone or what won’t.
I also learned that as with any art form the finished product is often very different from what it started out to be. Things seem to take on a life of their own as you get going on them.
This past year I started a few other writing projects. I am working on a play and interviewing people for a book while writing a completely different book. I am jumping the hurdles that come with changing writing styles i.e. the play is spoken words written down, the blog is my thoughts hopefully written clearly for others and both books are completely different. It has taken me some time to acquire the skill needed to jump back and forth.
The biggest surprise has been that more and more I find myself “thinking” like a writer. I scribble notes everywhere, a line of a song, a personal story, a billboard, an ad, a newspaper, etc. I find ideas in all these places. I have a blog notebook full of blog ideas and another one for my other projects. My family has become used to me stopping everything to write down a thought. My notes are on store receipts, scraps of paper, my hand, and anything I find at the moment.
These are all telltale signs that I am becoming a writer but the biggest sign…the one that made me truly realize that my thought process had changed was this: on a twelve hour road trip with a friend from church, I found myself constantly annoyed with the book on tape we were listening to. I voiced my thoughts a few too many times and was told (kindly) to just shut up! It was terrible writing and I couldn’t see past that to even enjoy the story which could have been good if the writing hadn’t been so bad.
This was the moment that I knew…I am a writer. As a reader, I would have disliked the book for the same reasons but I wouldn’t have been rewriting it in my head which was exactly what I was doing. I hope this phase doesn’t last too long. I used to love to read. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
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