Writing can be one of the most stressful past times, or it can be the most exhilarating. Do early experiences make the difference or is the long road that makes the difference?
I have always been a creative writer. I have written poems, short stories and even a manuscript (or two, possibly three). Some pieces have been written easily and some have felt like each word I typed was being plucked out of my brain by the keyboard as I typed. Regardless of the ease at which it has come, I love to write. This is the story of my journey (so far) into writing.
Throughout my days of primary education I was always gifted in literature and writing. All the standard marks you look for in a student: higher than expected standardized test scores, high grades, high energy, creativity, etc. I was the student who was picked to write examples (which I hated because I was and still am an introverted extrovert. Basically, I like people, but am too nervous to talk to them. You can imagine how this impacted getting up in front of a class and writing on the board or reading aloud something I had written. Cue the dream sequence of going to high school naked. Even though I hated it, I kept going and my writing grew into a skill that my teacher at the time wanted to nurture.
Mrs. Hertzog asked me to help publish the student literary magazine my junior year. She asked if I wanted to publish anything in it, but I said no. She kept asking me and finally one day while proofing the layout right before publication I see something familiar. It was one of my poems, but I had not submitted it to the student in charge of the layout of the magazine. I went to my teacher and showed her thinking that one of my peers had taken it out of my notebook. Nope, she submitted it after I turned it in for class credit. This is the story of how and why my first experience with being published was a turning point for me.
My first published writing was a poem I had written for my gifted class regarding a major event in our lives. I wrote about my first real job interview. At fifteen and sixteen years old, we really hadn’t had that many experiences, so most people in our group struggled for a topic. I wrote about my first real job interview. I couldn’t understand why anyone thought it was that special. It took me under an hour- I’m ballparking because honestly I’m too old to have a vivid memory of it- and I remember not having to think about writing. I sat down and wrote. It was the first time in my life I had felt comfortable with what I was doing and was not the least bit nervous.
I was sixteen at the time and had a job in one form or another for two years by then doing things for my neighbors and even worked at a bakery getting paid under the table because I was under the legal age of working at the time. I had recently gone for my first real interview to get a position at a movie theater. I asked my mom to help me with what to wear and what I should and shouldn’t say at the interview. I remember being so nervous about going and when I actually got in the room with the managers, I just talked to them. No shaky voice or stalling until the right answer came to me. Totally relaxed conversation. I now know they got more out of what we talked about than just a conversation with a teenager, but at the time it just seemed natural. When I came out of the interview, I was nervous again and wondered when I would hear from them.
The poem I wrote for our class reflected the anxiety I felt after the interview and then the jubilation I felt when I got the job. The marks my teacher wrote commented on the visceral feeling she got when she read it. The tension was palpable. I feel lucky looking back that it took no time at all to come up with a topic and once I did the words just flowed and fit together for me. This assignment was when I knew that somehow, someway I would always be a writer. Until that time, I never felt something so natural. I do have to say that I wish the inspiration came as easily now as it did when I was sixteen.
I know many writers have a love-hate relationship with inspiration and creativity. Writer’s block is a horrible feeling and I’m so thankful that my first foray into writing was not met the dreaded. I think my writing after that assignment would have never come about if a block of creativity or inspiration had happened. Trying to imagine my life without writing is impossible to me now, so I am thankful that I wasn’t discouraged at an early age.
Sharon J Writing 