Beginning Again a Second Time: Reflecting on Rocking the World with Words

In my very first blog post of the semester I said that my main goal for writing was to write more and write without any inhibitions or thoughts about what other people thought about my writing. I said, “I want to write for myself and not think about how my writing will impact other people all the time.” Now that I think about it more I don’t think I really did that. I think I absolutely wanted to do that, but I don’t think I really did. That concept is something that is hard for me to follow. It’s hard because I always care about what people are going to say about my work.

I didn’t have a lot of free time on my hands to sit down and write leisurely (although I did write one poem when I was feeling down in the dumps at one point) so I figured my outlet would be through my creative writing class. What happened instead is that we had workshops in that class and I only kind of wrote for myself. I wrote what I wanted to write but I made sure it was written well and if it wasn’t, if I ran out of time or ideas, I bailed. I didn’t go to workshop because I have an overwhelming feeling that all my writing should be good and if it’s not I’ve failed.

Something I’ve learned from all this, though, is that if something I’ve written is not good that doesn’t mean I’ve failed. It means I’ve succeeded in learning what doesn’t work and that is just as important. I’ll continue to work on trying to put myself out there and just write when I can and when I want to sans a care in the world about what others have to say: “It doesn’t matter how many times I do it and it doesn’t matter if someone thinks I suck at it and it doesn’t matter if what I have to say doesn’t matter.”

The other thing was to begin again and stop writing boring stuff in boring ways. My writing was becoming a snoozefest and now that I’ve taken this class, I know exactly how to counter that. I’ve learned more than I ever have about structure and timing. I’ve tried to implement these cool new ideas into other creative writing too. More than ever, I’ve experimented with dialogue, rhythm, and dynamic and I think several of these experiments have turned out successful. I have overcome the “learning-to-ride-my-bike-taught-me-how-to-overcome-obstacles” scum writing and that’s something to celebrate.

Reading to Write and Writing to Read

“Reading—the good and the bad—inspires you. It develops your palate for all the tricks that writers have invented over the years. You can learn from textbooks about the writing craft, but there’s no substitute for discovering for yourself how a writer pulls off a trick. Then that becomes part of your experience.” – Roz Morris

There are two things writers can do to get better: write more and read more. More writing is an obvious one, since practice makes perfect. But writing without expanding our knowledge won’t do us any good. You can write all day (and you should) but without broadening your toolbox (a concept introduced by Stephen King in On Writing) you will be constantly stuck at the same writing level and you’ll never get any better. How do writers build their toolboxes or repertoires? They read!

Reading expose us to other styles, other voices, other forms, and other genres of writing. Most importantly, it exposes us to writing that’s better than our own and helps us to improve. And then if it doesn’t expose us to writing that’s better, it exposes us to writing that’s worse and that can be even more helpful sometimes. Seeing someone’s writing that may not be up to par with what you’re used to recognizing as “good” will help you clearly define what not to do and that is just as important.

Writers learn from reading how to become better writers. Stephen King said, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.” That’s a powerful statement because of its relevance and veracity. Lots of people will say they don’t have time for reading, but the truth is you don’t have to read a whole novel to discover talent or lack thereof in an author’s writing—although it’s very possible, if you’re like me, that once you start you won’t be able to stop. 

The other truth is that you have to carve out time to read, good things and bad things and periodicals and novels and articles and the like. You have to have time to read any and everything in order to become a good writer, a better writer. It’s important for expanding your vocabulary, your knowledge of grammar and how to use it effectively, and it’s important for developing ideas and concepts and to be able to deliver those ideas competently and energetically.