I started a new creative writing class at the local college last week. The teacher was just what you might imagine a writing teacher might look like older heavy set and looking like he probably smokes a pipe and hangs out with other writers too many nights a week at the local pub. He spent most of the time name dropping about a local famous writer he knows and what they discuss about writing ending the evening telling us the sacrifices we we would have to make to become a good writer.
During the middle of the evening he gave us examples of terrible writing mistakes his students have made and even one that self published and didn't take his advice and the novel flopped. I felt bad for him because it was clear that maybe life hasn't turned out like he imagined it would or maybe it did.
As an adult and getting a degree at 40 I encountered a lot of unhappy teachers just like when I was in high school some that inspired and some that read the newspaper everyday during class. A good teacher can inspire you like my high school literature teacher Mrs. Myers she taught me about symbolism. Being raised by fundamentalist I had know idea that writers could be using symbolism and the stories could mean a lot of different things. We translated Ray Bradbury's - Something Wicked this Way Comes - it was like solving a puzzle. I still have that same book.
I love that words can make you think and question the truth you have carried in your mind all your life. When I read Scott Pecks - A Road Less Traveled where he talked about the Bible and all the symbolism I decided to take a second look at Christ's teachings. Before that I had abandoned my childhood religion thinking I would never be able to live up to those strict standards.
As far as my teacher goes I am going back tonight with our homework. This is a list of our strengths number 12 - 1 in our ability to write. I of course I do not buy into his idea of suffering for the word or for anything else. You make commitments to things or people you are the most passionate about and sometimes those passions can wane and the excitement just isn't there this is when the commitment keeps you going until something sparks the passion again.
Everything and everyone I love in life started out passionately a feeling that is impossible to maintain. You can abandon it all and begin again losing the time an energy invested to skip off to something or someone more interesting or you can stick with it until a moment when you feel that spark again.
Sometimes you just have to get away from things or even people you love to get a different perspective. The holidays gave me an opportunity to step back from my work. I have to admit I do love it but it has taken over my life. When I had extra time off I decided to try harder to do things outside of work like taking this class. I have also been working on a few other projects around the house. I have been a lot happier and even more inspired at work so it must be working.
I am looking forward to class tonight even though he was a Debbie Downer. I took the class to force me to spend more time writing. Wish me luck.
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