Academics Leaves One No Alternative
- In the process of earning my business degree at Northern Michigan University, what I thought was a curse turned out to be a blessing in disguise. My professor in english composition turned out to be none other than Charles M. Hitner from Yale (someone please correct me if that name is incorrect - it was a long time ago.) In class, the man sat right next to John Hersey, author of the book Hiroshima. As an instructor, professor Hitner was tough as nails; his criticisms were relentless. However, through the course of time, I began to realize what the man was trying to teach. Bingo! The light went on and I became interested. Dr. Hitner was a gift from writer's Heaven and I'm truly indebted to the man. Trust me, in my senior year writing a term paper, I made transportation logistics sound rather enticing - try and spin that yarn around a time or two. My best to all you writers and let's continue to keep the written word a perpetual timepiece in everyone's heart. Chuck Makela
- —chuckmakela
Encouragement
- I was encouraged to write down my thoughts by Earl Martin, El Senor. He was my eighth-grade English teacher in Rotan, Texas, and he not only encouraged us to write, but to think and behave as individuals. A little encouragement is all it takes.
- —Guest Neely
When and how
- I was hired as a full time pr person before I graduated from college. I was immediately expected to write news releases and feature stories, as well as take and process photos. My experience? A bachelors degree in English. Chaucer was of little help. Somehow (and with the help of a friend who was a UPI reporter), I bluffed my way through with OJT and went on to enjoy a 33 year career in communications, while teaching composition on the side.
- —Englishpatientdoc
the teacher i never liked
- I think it was in 4th grade when the teacher i hated made us a creative writing center. I started to go over there just to talk but then she handed me a project and said use this prompt and write a story. I loved that project. My 5th grade teacher encouraged me to write an alternate ending to 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. By sixth grade summer vacation I'd finished a book with my friend and now, heading to high school I'm halfway done with my first solo novel.
- —Guest Ebony Lockheart
When and How Did You Learn to Write
- Learn to write...never...just to write...as a junior in high school, I had a wonderful teacher who provided guidance, but no one taught me to write. The tools of organization were provided, but it was up to me to provide the creativity, so I can't say that I was ever taught. I double majored in English and Journalism, so I learned the journalistic style, but I really think my favorite is to right the soft feature and the essay. When I teach writing, and I am saying this with a grain of salt, I do so as a a guide, not as a "this is the one-and-only-way-to-do-it". I believe writers must become self-editors and trust their own eyes and ears, and they must develop, more than anything else, a keen appreciation of the concept of sound and sense in their work because after all, if it doesn't sound correct, it isn't going to make sense. By the way, never in all of my "writing classes" did I have an instructor whose writing did I see. I write with my students for credibility's sake.
- —Guest Connie Warner
My Uncle's letters inspired me to write
- Starting my education at St. Thomas Convent, Simla, India, we kids were exposed to the Swift's Gulliver Travels. During the month of December, when it snowed heavily, we sat around the fire to enjoy the gargantuan figures of the Brobdingnagians and the puny Lilliputians, along with the Yahoo stuff as well. I love to write short stories in which my characters are the honored donkeys, swift squirrels, jumping frogs, stray dogs and the likes. I hope to pen my autobiography as well before i choose to kick the bucket in the end.
- —Guest Dr.I.S.KALSI
Uni and Public Service
- Post school in writing essays for univerity courses in English Lit. and Lang. and music history; post uni in writing letters (no faxes or emails then), reports and minutes in the public service
- —Guest Malcolmjl
When and How Did I Learn to Write?
- I can't recall the precise moment or date, but it was sometime after I learned to hold a pencil and make words happen on a page. My first composition was just after my seventh birthday. I was quite proud of the work in progress (I never did finish the piece), partially because it was my first real composition, partially because it was well over 100 hand written pages, but mostly because I knew then that I could spend the rest of my life doing it - just writing - and that would be perfectly fine with me! I finally had an answer to "what do you want to do when you grow up?" Wow! What a painfully annoying question that had been!
- —Guest grugach42
Another note about writing...
- Thanks to social tools like Facebook & Twitter, I've learned that I can express myself without worrying about public censure or having to write a certain amount of pages. I even started a blog to talk about the misadventures of my band, Element of Surprise. I always wanted to be a writer, but never thought I was inventive or clever enough. I'm so thankful that through social media, I don't have to crank out The Great American Novel, I can cast my 'pearls' and whether anyone 'likes' them or not is immaterial. If anyone is interested... my blog is www.mrsmmars.blogspot.com ... come see what happens when a hack musician decides to become a hack writer, LOL.
- —Guest Metalhaid
at the age of 4...
- My mom sat my brother & I at the dining room table with pencils & papers and the alphabet. He was 3 & I was 4. We had to copy the alphabet til we could produce the letters perfectly. Only thing was...I was left-handed, and learned to write left-handed. When I entered kindergarten, I was made to change hands, with the result that my penmanship was barely legible until the 6th grade LOL. I was reading by 4 and was reading at a high-school level by 3rd grade. Mom made us learn to write because it kept us quiet, but it really was a huge advantage in school. Now, if she had only taught me my multiplication tables as well...
- —Guest Metalhaid
I taught myself (continued)
- Self-made individuals read everything from the best in literature to the not-so-great and in the process sharpen their skills sufficiently to discern excellence from mediocrity. They read enough classic literature to know what is considered great. By the same token, they also read just enough run-of-the-mill writing to realize that they can outrun the average bear any day of the week. I taught myself to write, but other writer’s have shown me the way.
- —Guest Debra Elramey
I Taught Myself to Write
- As John Holt writes in his book, What Do I Do Monday? “Writers in the world out there write for others to read; it is why they write. A child writing for an audience, not just a teacher, becomes a real writer, part of that world out there. Also, the chance of writing for an audience will surely make many children want to write…” I can vouch for that. I’ve known I wanted to be a writer since third grade. My desire to write was so strong that I copied children’s books verbatim, just because I enjoyed the process of writing. This is how I learned grammar, composition, punctuation, mechanics, etc. In spite of not having received an MFA in writing I still learned how to write. Becoming a decent writer isn’t contingent upon a college degree. Self-educated authors are often the cream of the crop (consider Mark Twain and C.S. Lewis). Self-made individuals read everything from the best in literature to the not-so-great and in the process sharpen their skills sufficiently to di
- —Guest Debra Elramey
A Work in Progress, Always
- I gravitated to the written word quickly in life, and still remember the earliest enjoyment I found in reading. I learned to love the sound of favorite words, loved the feel of a book in my hands, and even noticed how some words seemed visually pleasing or impressive in print, while others did not. Often when reading, I would stop suddenly upon finding a beautifully written phrase, or thought. Each time I felt I'd discovered a hidden treasure, and made journal notes for reference and safe-keeping. It seemed some sort of natural progression when I began to wish I were capable of expressing my own thoughts and perceptions of life and the world around me. Writer are keen observers, and work in photography greatly enhanced this trait. Whenever anything crossed my line of sight and made an emotional impression, descriptive words formed in my mind, as if they were coming in on an old Western Union telegram. Coming full circle now, the writing begins.
- —Guest Susan.3
I thought I already knew.
- Since I had been writing for almost threequarters of a century, I assumed that the writing of the book for which I had done research and planning would be a matter of more of the same. And so it was for the first draft, but when I read through I told myself, in no uncertain manner, that I could not put that rubbish into a book. I tried two rewrites, but still was not satisfied with what I had produced. Then it was that I decided that, in spite of my having topped my class in English at grammar school and had written what in the light of my recent experience must have been badly written magazine articles, I did not know how to write. I needed help before comitting my name to the front of a book. (As I had planned to self-publish, I knew for sure that my name would so appear.) Having attended community classes for creative writing at which the tutor always made flattering comments, I decided that I would teach myself to write. And so, after reading many books, I wrote my own book.
- —Guest Bonner
A final comment
- I do have a sorta final comment. This is more in the line of those who are thinking of entering the wonderful world of writing. The simplest level is writing for yourself and never publishing. You still get your yah-yah's out. The next level is getting published and suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and maybe getting published. The third level is "becoming known" and highly visible. Watch out, kids, this is the trickiest stage. You are or you are not. Can you keep it up? The demands of those who "believe" in you are great. The first step is to write. The next is to publish and see what happens. The third step is becoming yourself and following wherever it goes. I am with you and on the second step. With permission of About.com, I offer you my email address dgrowski@q.com for any comments my direction. I would be happy to hear from you. Good luck.
- —Darkenwulf
