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10 pounds down 32 pounds to go!

Monday, June 12, 2006

so you wanna be a writer...

but you're too fucking lazy so you just start a blog. i'm a little bummed today because i just got word that the writing class i signed up for is cancelled. not enough people want to be the toni morrison of maine. it was the only cultural pursuit in my future and now it's dead. i even budgeted it. it's a line item under self preservation. because i'm going to go freaking insane if i don't find something meaningful to do with myself.

as compulsive baking is no longer an option i thought a writing class would be fun, and maybe i'd fall in love with it. i keep picturing angela lansbury in murder she wrote...she was a writer, she lived in maine...she was even fat! and no one cared! because she solved all those mysteries...and i wouldn't have to drive.* it's not that i think being a writer would necessarily be easy. angela toiled. steven king keeps losing his bats. there are prices to pay. none of which i will get to know because they cancelled my damn class.

so i welcome your suggestions. wait it out and start a new class in the fall? get the idiots guide to writing and teach thyself? or i could take up knitting. if y'all were me, what would you choose?




*it's now completely obvious how much daytime re-run tv i have watched in my life and that's why i don't need to have cable because i have seen and remember every detail from every show from 1985 to 2003. so help me.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Two books I've found to be helpful are The Lie That Tells a Truth and The 3am Epiphany. Lots of writing exercises in those two.

Amy said...

is that a vote for do it yourself?

Anonymous said...

Sure. If you want to be a writer, write. Then find somebody that will give you constructive feedback. Unless you need the structure, I'd say do it yourself.

i i eee said...

You're going to have to do it yourself anyway, in my humble opinion. Sign up for the class again in the fall, but don't hesitate to take it up on your own. I found that Carolyn See's The Making of a Literary Life to be most useful. Because not only does she motivate you and give writing tips, she also actually talks about what one should do to get published -if you're at all interested in that, which I figure you are.

Anyway, I really like her, and I liked that book.

Anonymous said...

If you want to write then write. Having someone tell you their way of writing is interesting but learning to do it your way is something that only you can teach yourself.

Anonymous said...

Definitely just keep writing--but I've found over the years that reading about writing (as well as just plain reading) has helped my own work immensely. My favorite writing books include Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, Annie Dillard's The Writing Life, Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, and undergoing The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. Depending upon what kind of writing you want to do, maybe consider volunteering for experience at, say, the local newspaper; do something that will let you build clips, work with outside editors, and get published. It takes time, but eventually you get someplace. All you need is a catalyst to spark your desire, and off you go. In 7 years I've gone from a hodgepodge of writing samples, to more than 50 magazine stories; stints as a magazine editor, newspaper reporter, and freelance writer; publication in a national travel book (two editions); and now work as a well-paid advertising copywriter. You can make it happen if I can, for sure.