Is it just me, or does today already completely aggravate? Is it just a Monday writers thing???<\/p>\n
Ah, Julie-the-Writer (see sidebar for her site) says it all:<\/p>\n
3.16.05<\/em> Is it just me, or does today already completely aggravate? Is it just a Monday writers thing??? Ah, Julie-the-Writer (see sidebar for her site)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-3245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-views"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3291,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3245\/revisions\/3291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
I was reminded this weekend why I never took a creative writing class and never will. It would kill me. I was at a conference and during two workshop sessions the participants were required (required!) to engage in a writing exercise. The words \u201cwriting exercise\u201d evoke panic in my heart. Immediately my brain freezes, my hand shakes, and I am irreversibly damaged by physical implosion. I cannot \u2013 I will not \u2013 write on demand. I resent being asked. It\u2019s too personal. How many young people \u2013 real writers \u2013 feel that way? \u201cHow dare you force me to reveal myself to complete strangers? I\u2019m not going to write in your presence. I\u2019m not going to show you what that looks like.\u201d
Maybe the more writing classes you take, the more discipline you develop, but I can\u2019t conjure up my muse at will. I wouldn\u2019t want to. She\u2019s an evil creature and her breath stinks. Oh I could probably whip out a few meaningless paragraphs (like these two) and call it creative writing. But it\u2019s not. It has no link to the creative synergy between body, mind, and soul. I think real writing comes from a deep, dark labyrinthe inside you and you don\u2019t enter the maze unless you\u2019re prepared to risk getting lost. For all eternity. Assuming a person can navigate blind alleys and reach a pool of understanding in the next twenty designated minutes is absurd. It makes me wonder how many real writers we turn off in school by forcing them to write between the hours of nine thirty-six and ten forty-two. How many young people are writing in stealth as a true form of self expression? A lot, I tell you. Oh how I wish they had writing groups who would nurture and share that passion, that love, that bliss. Young writers groups \u2013 this is my newest crusade.<\/em>
<\/em>
Here’s to nurturing, when the writing process is SUCKING DOWN YOUR VERY SOUL.
Or something like that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"