Read This, Somebody, Anybody!
I have been writing consistently on various platforms for about 8 months now. I am pouring my time into it because I love it. It has proven to be both therapeutic and enlightening so I will continue. My style and voice need to be honed for certain, though. It is my feeling that I need readership and feedback to properly develop my craft. My voice is my voice, I guess, but it would be beneficial, however, to get a bounceback of opinion about what resonates, and what doesn’t. My wife tells me I’m great, but let’s be honest, she is biased. She shares life with the entirety of me, not just what I write. She has more context than any other reader.
I am not really begging for readers and feedback here. I just write what is on my mind, and this is what I have been pondering today. It is my deep desire to become an impactful writer. Not famous or wealthy, that’s what my teacher career is for (haha), just impactful. Reading and writing are two of my passions alongside eating ice cream and drinking whiskey, though not at the same time. That is disgusting. I do dream of one day having, “go to work,” mean sitting by the ocean somewhere with a pen and paper and writing. That would be the ultimate collision of two things I love, the ocean and writing. I fell in love with the ocean the first time I ever saw it in about 6th grade. What is crazy is that I contracted Meningitis and was hospitalized for nearly all of the time we spent on that vacation. Even so, I was hooked on the Salt Life. I have plotted and schemed to move to Florida multiple times in my life, only to have other circumstances put their foot down and redirect me. Someday maybe. Is it a problem that this is how I write sometimes? Here I began this post about how much I love writing and want people to love reading it, and now I am daydreaming about how I want to move near the beach.
Anyway, maybe I’ll switch gears a bit and get back to focus. As I have pursued my writing voice, here are some lessons that I have learned.
1. Write. Seriously, all the time, just write. Even when my head feels void of thought, rational or otherwise, when I just start moving the pen, thought is provoked. Speaking of the pen, I like to write in a spiral bound notebook. It makes me feel cool, like an old time philosopher or poet. That’s probably weird of me.
2. Read books and other publications to spark creativity. Rehashing other people’s work is not really fun, but often just reading will jumpstart thought and opinion. It certainly helps to keep the brain waves active. Active and intelligent brains make for better writing. No study to cite on that one, but it sure makes sense to me.
3. Get your butt out of bed. I have found that getting up before anyone else in the house, and before most people in general, gives me a strange psychological advantage. It makes me feel like I am gaining some sort of productive advantage. That said, I know there are people that are vastly more accomplished than me that probably stay up late and sleep until noon. The early morning routine, just seems to work for me.
4. Exercise intensely and frequently. I have found that when my body has been stimulated through activity, I feel better, more alert, and more positive about life. Some people may be great at writing from a dark place, but so far my best writing, as I see it anyway, comes out when I am feeling joyful and optimistic.
I have never done this before, but my mind is churning oddly today. I am going to restate this blog in a short poem. This is probably the first poem I have written since I was required to do so I high school. Bear with me here.
As my journey unfolds, and as my story grows,
I will expose my soul however the new wind blows.
I will love and pursue and write and share
I will continue this passion and leave my thoughts laid bare.
I hope my dream is fulfilled, and by the ocean I will stay,
But I may continue watching the seasons change, and that too will be okay.
As I ramble on and refine my craft,
I will apply my lessons learned to each new draft.
Thank you for reading.
