I recently had the privilege of reading a short story written by the daughter of a friend of mine. She is a high school student and her parents were once told never to expect her to be able to write creatively.
Why would anybody, particularly a person in the education field, ever say something so discouraging?
As I read the story, her distinctive voice resounded strong and clear. The story itself was dark, even slightly disturbing, but interesting nonetheless. Her teacher did not care for it and asked her to change it. The girl declined, stating essentially this was her story and she was sticking to it, and so the teacher refused to include it in a "published" book the students were creating for parents.
This situation reminded me of something I witnessed when I was shopping for a preschool for my daughter many years ago. As I toured one facility, the students were busy with an art project, gluing cotton balls within a snowman outline that was printed on the page. I walked past one particular child who was being corrected by the teacher because he had decided to glue the cotton balls to the top of the page instead. I'm not a teacher, and there may have been some developmental purpose behind making each student conform to gluing the cotton balls inside the lines. But I was annoyed. If he wanted to glue the cotton balls somewhere else on the page, go for it! Let him revel in his unique take on the project. This was that child's personal art.
Whether you're gluing cotton balls on a page, or crafting words, it is art. Your personal art.
For myself, practicing the art of writing is as necessary as breathing. The act of crafting words gives me such an incredible natural high. It is a feeling I crave.
For those of you who love to write, you know what I mean. And for those of you who don't, I'll bet you can imagine something else in your own lives that gives you that satisfying blend of accomplishment, of joy, of simultaneous blessing and being blessed.
After finishing the girl's story, I pondered the question: How do you know when you're a writer?
I am a freelance writer and I get paid to write. And I love, LOVE getting paid for my writing. But I would still write, whether it resulted in a paycheck or not.
I say to anybody who feels the urge to write creatively, go for it! It doesn't matter what anybody tells you. It doesn't matter if you get paid to do it. It is your personal art. If you love it. Crave it. Dream about it. If you can't be away from it for too long because you believe you'll go crazy...
You are a writer.
“Why do writers write? Because it isn’t there.”
~ Thomas Berger ~
Image by: Dave Goodman
8 comments:
It is a shame that your daughter's friend's story will not be published, but it is so good to hear that she still refused to conform. Good for her.
It is so upsetting to read that your daughter's friend's teacher will not be publishing her story because it does not conform to what she wanted. I am glad to hear that the friend did not back down. I've learned in life that those are sometimes the most successful of people, the ones that stick to their guns.
I am a writer! That makes me sad about the girl though. At least she stood her ground and kept her story as she wanted it. For anyone to discourage someone, especially a teenager, from expressing their creativity is just wrong.
i LOVE this post. everything you said resonated inside me, urging me to get back to my story and write it because it isn't there.
i hate what the schools do to creativity. it's all about conforming. creative people die if they have to conform. so glad i got past the injury of college professors telling me what to write so i could get back to the thing i love.
My writing first began as blogging (last year) and just recently transformed itself into paid freelance gigs. I'm loving this! I'm good at it. After 37 years I finally found my passion. :)
I love this post! When my son was in kindergarten they were concerned that he wasn't coloring in the lines. I was heartbroken! I wanted him to color wherever the heck he wanted!
Wow. I feel so sad for this young girl who has to overcome such harsh criticism and prejudice at such a young age. But kuddos to her for being able to stick up of her work. I hope she has a long writing career in front of her, preferably one filled with people who can support her work even if they don't get it.
Its so true - you write what is in you not what others deem 'suitable'. I'm so glad to hear she stuck to her guns though and refused to change it.
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