As some of you may know, I've been writing stories since I could hold a pen...or, at least, pretty darn close to it. I remember one of my earliest stories was about my younger sisters being chased by a vacuum. (Sorry, ladies!) I also recall a story about a girl who wants a world without rules and finds herself trapped aboard a lawless pirate ship until she confesses that she does indeed need law and order in her life. It certainly wasn't Pulitzer Prize-worthy, but, as I look back on that tale now, it seems like it has the potential for more than a middle school writing assignment...however, I really should finish the novels I'm already working on first!
If I had to label it, I would say that the greatest joy of writing is the ability to bring other worlds to life. One of my students told me the other day that she loves reading because "you can have an adventure anywhere!" I told her that this element carries over into the writing realm, as well. Any time you desire, you can visit real or imagined lands; you can also transform into anyone you like, temporary though it may be. This probably makes me sound ridiculous, but it is beautiful in a way, too: to be able to travel to another life or universe without leaving the security of your own little slice of the world. (Insert inspirational image...or three.)
For me, the main blessing of writing is that it has always helped me to organize my thoughts. As a kid, I was hopelessly shy. My middle school teachers are shocked today when they learn that I stood in front of a classroom of high school kids for two years. Part of the reason that I wasn't very outgoing and quick to talk was because the words always seemed to come out wrong. In front of family and close friends, I was just fine. However, if caught off guard or in front of an audience (however small), a jumble of word vomit would shoot out of my mouth and I would then panic, making it even worse until I sounded completely incoherent. This situation kept me from raising my hand in class, participating in games and sports where you had to call out across a field or court, and attracting too much attention in any situation. Being able to write down my thoughts and feelings made the world a much better place. I think the first time I realized that by organizing and writing my thoughts I could do just about anything was when I was selected to give the salutatorian speech at my 8th grade graduation. I reordered those words until they were perfect and memorized them until I could say them with my eyes closed (even though I would clutch my notes desperately when standing in front of hundreds of my peers' closest family and friends on the big day). That was just the starting point, but I became more brave and willing to improvise as the years went on. Now, I'm to the point where I'm no longer frazzled by those awkward "get to know each other" games in small group settings and I'll even seek conversation with strangers in supermarkets or long lines. I feel that my words are my own now, and I control them in my conversations as well as in my novels. In both situations, anything is possible.
Coming from that experience, I feel almost a physical pain when my students tell me that they hate writing. I think to myself, How can you possibly hate imagination and thought? Because that is basically what writing is. Sometimes I tell them this, and they brush me off. Other times they give me excuses, such as fears that their spelling sucks or that their grammar is goofy. Those excuses don't fly with this English teacher. I tell them to forget about the miniscule details of punctuation, spelling, and vocabulary; for now, just write! It's amazing what your average middle school or high school student is capable of when they let these fears go. I mean, just think of how fearless teenagers are in a typical situation. (I don't know about you, but I jumped off a railroad trestle over a lake as a teen; we tend to do stupid stuff at that time in our lives.) I tell my students to focus on emotion and content first; you can always go back and revise the crap out of what you write. I know I do that with everything from story-writing to emails for my students' parents. Worse case scenario, someone else can help you perfect it. Now, this writing inspiration certainly doesn't work for everyone, but it can be an uplifting experience. An element as simple as a pen to paper (or, more often nowadays, finger to keyboard) is capable of not just organizing thoughts and changing the life of a shy little girl, it holds the possibility for the creation of alternate experiences and realities that truly are endless.
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