What I learned at writing school
I remember when I started writing as a bright-eyed twelve-year-old. Just kidding, my teenage years were filled with angsty music and conflicting views on religion and the future. There are a lot of adjectives to describe me as a teenager, and enthusiastic isn't one of them. At that age, the only thing I looked forward to was writing.
I lived to attend writing conferences, workshops, and book reading events when girls my age were at the movies or dating for the first time. At writing events, I mingled with other writers, read a couple of stories for them, and even offered some advice once or twice. Even when all I had to offer back then were cliched stories, childish conversations, and clumsy advice, the other writers accepted me in their creative circle and taught me so much about the craft.
By the time I was fifteen, I had some of them urging me to publish something. They wanted me to get my feet wet in publication and get out there. My response to them was always, “I’m just not ready yet.” Back then, I thought I'd be ready to publish after I graduated from college.
Many of my writing mentors advised me against this notion. “You don’t need to study to be a writer. You just need to write.” They said I wouldn’t learn anything that I couldn’t learn on my own, that it was a waste of money, and that I should publish my work early. In spite of their ever well-intentioned advice, when my time to attend college came I choose to go for a Creative Writing degree. Four years later and what’s the verdict? Did I learn anything in Writing School? I most certainly did.
The things I learned In Writing School
What writing is all about. Writing is hard work. It’s about more than putting ideas on paper. Writing is about pushing yourself to be better with every draft. It is the art of conquering self-doubt, inner critics, and fear of rejection.
What my writing should do. Writing should say something, inspire, make the right people uncomfortable with the right words, and motivate others to do the same.
Who other writers are. Other writers are your friends, not your competition. The writing community sometimes forgets about supporting each other and get jarred in competitions for book sales. At writing school, I learned to lean on my writing friends. I learned to support them and celebrate them, even when my writing suffers or when my book sales are not as good as I expect them to be.
Why I should keep writing. I learned to always keep writing. In spite of rejections and harsh reviews, I should just keep going because I have something to say and a dream to achieve. There is nothing worse than an untold story.
I will NEVER be ready for publishing. I finally learned I will never feel ready to publish. There will always be a need to over-edit and to “make my draft better”. The truth is, fear of publishing is what makes me feel like I’m not ready; because once my work is out there, it stops being mine. Since then, I decided that I’ll stop saying that I just need to write another draft to be ready.
Writing school taught me other things like how to market my own book and how the publishing process works, but these five are the lessons I value the most. Did writing school make me a better writer? Maybe. I might be a better writer now because I practiced and practiced and practiced; or because I picked up some things in college. Do I recommend it? Absolutely, the best part about writing school is the interaction with other writers and how much you can learn from them. Do I recommend to wait after going to writing school to publish something? No, and if I could go back to see my younger self, I’d advise her against it too.