Monday, May 18, 2009

Writing for Class

I took an online writing class to try to get myself out of a creative dead-end. I have been uninspired for over a year now, allowing external events to affect my productivity. It's my own fault, I realize. When something bad happens, the way out of it is to write my way out (think of all the fun we could have had storytelling about those external events, had I simply acknowledged that it's my story too and it's my privilege to tell it, not just my responsibility to respect the anonymity wishes of others), not to wallow in misery until I am paralyzed.

But the problem is that classes don't really help. The only way out is to produce, not to listen to someone's advice on how to produce. Teacher doesn't know me or how to inspire me. I know me.

I should take the advice of this book passage and stop thinking about or planning to write, and listen more to certain advertising slogans related to expensive shoes.
"One of the biggest challenges I've encountered since beginning teaching in 1989 is getting my students to understand that they need to spend less time discussing writing, worrying about not being good enough or not having the time, and more time actually putting words down on paper."

In the words of some evil ad exec, just do it. Or rather shut up and work.

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