Children's Corner
  • Home
  • Writers
    • Overcoming Writer's Block
    • Writing Tips
    • Writing References
    • Helpful Websites
  • Readers
    • Reading Time
    • Where to Buy?
    • For Parents
  • Media
  • Blog
  • Craft Corner
    • Where to buy?
    • Craft and DIY Websites
  • About
    • Contact

Why I Write: How Writing and I Came to Be

10/20/2011

0 Comments

 
Today is National Day on Writing. As I look at the Twitter posts, read the articles and tweet my reason to the hashtag #whyiwrite, I think back reminiscing about my journey. I remember why I wanted to be a writer and why, after all this time, I still rely on it as an old friend I refuse to let go. So, today I'm going to tell you the story of how writing and I came to be.

I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't write.  I still recall being a kid in elementary school jotting down rhyming limericks in my pink fuzzy diary because I thought all poems had to rhyme and even though I didn’t know it yet, it was the start of the most important friendship of my life.  Then I got my hands on Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy and I was done for.  Reading about Harriet and her desire to be a famous author made me realize that my words on paper weren’t just a dumb pipe dream of a 10 year old with big glasses and frizzy hair.  This book made me realize that I too wanted to be an author, that I too wanted to write everything I knew and everything I saw and thus was the official start of my writing life.

It always stuck with me.  No matter what I did or who I was, writing was a loyal friend with arms stretched open waiting for me to embrace it.  I tried different things and experimented with different talents, but in the end writing was what I was meant to do.  For a time in high school as I was applying to colleges, I began to think that maybe I could try my hand at acting.  I applied to Emerson as a theater major selecting writing as a back-up in case I didn’t get into the program.  I guess the universe knew better.  Writing was what I went in for and I never looked back.

I found my writing self at Emerson.  I fell in love with the first children’s writing course I took and I knew that was going to be my genre.  As I progressed through my college years, writing never let me down.  It stood by me at 4am as I was cramming the last few words onto my 15 page paper.  It handed me tissues as I cried over whatever boy broke my heart and it picked me up when depression hit me hard.  For almost two years, I lost myself.  I didn’t know who I was anymore and as I struggled to find myself again, writing was my security blanket.  I knew who I was when I had a paper and pen in my hand and as long as I had my writing, I would never be lost.  It was then that I knew we were soul mates. 

I don’t write for the glory of it.  Even if I never become that famous author that Harriet wanted to be, I know I am happy with my writing.  As I said in my Twitter post, “I write because it's who I am and to do otherwise would feel really strange.”
0 Comments

A Response to WSJ

6/5/2011

1 Comment

 
Yesterday The Wall Street Journal posted an article about YA books being too "dark", stating "Contemporary fiction for teens is rife with explicit abuse, violence and depravity. Why is this considered a good idea?"  This article (click here to read), has spurned much debate on Twitter as well as the hash tag #YAsaves, where readers off all ages have posted numerous books that have helped them and even, at time, saved their lives.  Being a writer myself, I couldn't just let this article be without posting my response to it.  I saw it upon waking up this morning at 9am and I am only now able to clear my head to write.  It took that long for me to calm down enough to answer their question "Why is this considered a good idea?"  Here is my response.

It's books like these that make a difference in the world of teens.  Not that I'm saying the other "softer" books don't.  To this day, my favorite book is Harriet the Spy which was the book that made me realize I wanted to be a writer and therefore changed my life.  However, these other books, these so-called darker books depict a reality that up until now was always kept in the "dark".  I'm going to admit something here that only a few people know, I was molested as a child.  I won't go into details of what happened, but I will say, had some of these books been around while I was growing up, I may not have felt like that in some part is was my fault.  It may not have taken almost all of my 31 years to come to grips with what happened and maybe, even now as I write this, I wouldn't be shaking.  I only hope that one day, a book that I write, will have the kind of impact I am seeing on Twitter.

Authors from Judy Blume to Ellen Hopkins to Laurie Halse Anderson have broken the mold and written books that teens need to read.  Yes, the topics are serious and yes, the topics are reality.  To hide them or band them will cause more harm than good.  Do we really want to live in a world where teens are not allowed to express what they feel or what they are going through?  Band these books and that's where we're headed.  We need these teens to realize they are not alone, that others have been there and that it's ok to go to their parents, teachers, librarians and ask for help without feeling guilty or ashamed about it.  In Jackie Morse Kessler's Hunger, when Lisa walks into her parent's bedroom and says "Daddy, I need help." I could almost picture the various teens going to their parents and asking for help just because this one character was strong enough to do so.  That is the impact these books make.

So in response to the WSJ question, "Why is this considered a good idea?"  My answer "Because it is".
1 Comment
    Blogs are whatever we make them. Defining ‘Blog’ is a fool’s errand.

    - ​Michael Conniff

    Categories

    All
    Article Response
    Book Club
    Book Club Review
    Book Diversity
    Book Obsessed
    Book Recommendations
    Book Review
    Bookstore
    Books Vs. Movies
    Cafe
    Celebrity Book Deals
    Commuting
    Conventions
    Creative Corner
    Glasses And All
    Goodbye Letter
    Harry Potter
    Lent Challenge
    Middle Grade
    Movie Adaptations
    Nanowrimo
    New Years Resolution
    Reading List
    Retelling Review
    RPG
    Series And Trilogies
    Social Media
    TBT
    Theater Review
    Themes
    Updates
    Whyiwrite
    Writers Block
    Writing Conference
    Writing Ideas
    Writing Routine
    Writing Techniques
    Writing Tip
    Yasaves
    Young Adult


    Archives

    June 2020
    April 2020
    January 2016
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2013
    November 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Writers
    • Overcoming Writer's Block
    • Writing Tips
    • Writing References
    • Helpful Websites
  • Readers
    • Reading Time
    • Where to Buy?
    • For Parents
  • Media
  • Blog
  • Craft Corner
    • Where to buy?
    • Craft and DIY Websites
  • About
    • Contact