With school starting up next week and a whole new focus beginning in my writing class, I got out my notes from last time and reviewed what I learned. Or at least what I wrote down in my notes. Whether I actually learned it all or not will soon become evident as I take the second semester of Imaginative Writing. As I begin this class, I am looking in the mirror and asking: What's changed in my writing?
I believe it's important to evaluate our growth occasionaly, to ensure that our writing doesn't stay static. If I'm not moving forward or at least stepping to the side on a different path, then I must question the effort I put in to create a better outcome. Has my writing improved? Have my stories become more alive with the characters and details that surround them?
One of the things that I know has changed is my level of courage. Or my dimishing fear. Like the lion in the mirror, I see myself beginning to roar back at my kitten meow of last year. Having the courage to explore different avenues available to me has opened up new possibilities for me. Besides self-publishing my books, I've had the courage to submit my manuscripts to a publisher of ebooks. Allowing my work to be critiqued has been the hardest growth for me. I'm learning how to develop a thick skin so I don't crumble when someone doesn't like my work. Now I can ask why? And how can I improve and sharpen my characters and plots.
I look forward to getting back to the grind. If I was thirty years younger I wouldn't be so hard on myself. But I feel the urgency of wanting to get the stories out that are inside, just like a painter would want to paint all the pictures that are in their mind's eye. And so I leave this post with these questions for you. Are you continuing to improve in your writing? Has your story become sharper and clearer as you write? Are you focused so each chapter reflects a mirror of what you want to say?
I can see the changes from my first book to the second to the one I'm working on now!
ReplyDeleteAlex: Isn't that encoutaging to see those kind of changes? ANd then you want to go back and edit the forst book, maybe. LOL!
DeleteJust keep writing and you'll see the changes. Not always easy to pinpoint what exactly they are, but you'll see a difference.
ReplyDeleteThe class sounds fun.
M Pax: Sometimes I can't see any changes and then otheer times, I wonder who wrote the piece I'm working on.
DeleteYes, I'm looking forward to the class.
Love this post.
ReplyDeleteIt made me think back to one of the first ever woodburning paintings I did. Oh, I was soo proud of how it turned out! So, I kept that one and tucked it away. I went on to sell hundreds after that to an Oregon coast myrtlewood shop. About 4 years later, I happened to pull out that first myrtlewood plaque, and was embarrassed to realize how amateurish it looked! eek! But the thing is... it only took a couple more after that first one to get the hang of it enough for them to sell as fast as I could make them. But I was so close to it all, I couldn't see the changes or my progress.
I've read some of your older stuff, which I was impressed with even then. And yet I can honestly say Wow! at how you just keep improving and getting better and better. You might not see it as much yet, but I sure do. You are doing wonderful, and I know you will just continue to get better, like a fine wine, or an aged cheese... or, oh no, now I am thinking of stinky cheeses! hahahahahaha... but you know what I mean!! :-D
Rettakat: Thank you for sharing this example with me. It makes me see that all kinds of art progress and we sometimes don't see it. And thank you for the encouragement. As I start this new phase of writing, I'm looking forward to new challenges and more growth.
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