Professional Writing

I’m half way thru my Nature Writing Workshop now, and I have discovered something about myself: I am not cut out to be a professional writer.

Let me clarify that statement a little bit.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy writing; I do. It’s not that I think I’m bad at it; I believe I’m just as good as the next guy at getting my thoughts down onto paper. And it’s not that I “can’t take the criticism” that comes with putting yourself out there for everybody to read; as long as it is constructive criticism, it helps me to grow and expand – and that’s a good thing, even if it’s not always a comfortable thing.

I just find that I am not as driven as it seems necessary to be for a writer. I don’t seem to “feel” things as strongly as the others in the group.

The class has been an eye-opener for me. We take home the essays handed in by the other members of the class, read thru them and edit them for grammar, spelling, and content. We write comments along the sidelines, stating what we felt while reading the piece, or what we thought we should have felt but didn’t. We make suggestions as to how we thing the piece could be made better. We highlight the parts that really stood out for us. Things of that nature.

During class, we openly discuss our findings – sometimes finding that other people had the same comments and at other times finding that nobody else had a problem with that particular part.

The person who’s piece is being discussed does not to have a say in the discussion, but is given time afterwards to make comments, answer particular questions, and agree/disagree with the final consensus.

This has been a very interesting learning experience for me. I have found that I am not given to being quite that analytical: if I like a piece, I like it. I don’t pare it down to the infinitesimal bits and pieces to try to determine exactly WHY I like it. I simply like it. The same goes for if I do not like a piece.

Others in the group, however, seem to enjoy the process. They imagine that they know exactly what the author was trying to convey and believe that if you simply followed their suggestions, the piece would be absolutely perfect. They strongly argue their points (all the while being as polite as possible) and fell quite pleased with themselves for having converted the author over to their side.

I think that’s what I have the most objections to: the part where they all seem to know what I was trying to say. They all want “tension and action” and feel that I should play those parts up more in order to be “more interesting”.

I don’t feel that way at all. I get enough tension and action in my life, and use my writing to get away from those stressful feelings.

I guess I’m just whining. I will continue my class (I did pay for it, after all), and will garner as much useful information out of it as I can – but will leave behind my burgeoning aspirations towards journalism. I’m just not made for that life.