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???? TEFF HAS Twelve years on WDC! FORUM keeps ADC records. |
JAN 2012 NL --- sent to "Invalid Item"  MEMBERSWHO CAN TEACH A WRITER? WHO CAN WRITE A NEWSLETTER AT WRITING.COM (WDC)? BY ANN PATTERSON, Newsletter Editor I’m been a writer at WDC for five years and I’ve learned from many newsletters written by members. I have learned from all of them. Until recent encouragement from one of the authors of a NL, I never thought that just maybe I could teach about writing. Now, I understand: All of us who write can learn from every other writer here. Every person has something to teach; all of us can learn from each other. In this, my first newsletter, I will attempt to teach. We’ll see if it works. WHY DO WRITERS LET YEARS SLIP BY WHILE THEY WISH THEY COULD WRITE? I did that for my first 65 years; I kept hoping I could become a writer. During my career, I wrote grant proposals and raised millions of dollars for nonprofit organizations. I edited news letters and news magazines to inform thousands of people about the word of specific nonprofit organizations. I wrote news releases and articles sharing information about my nonprofit organizations. I wrote long, newsy, detailed handwritten letters to my grandmothers, parents, friends and my adult children. I wrote persuasive “letters to the editors” about relevant and perhaps irrelevant topics in three states where I lived. I wrote term papers and reports in high school and college and made “A’s”. I filled the blank pages of journals with my thoughts and insights. I scribbled poems and never typed them into better formats. But, I never considered myself a writer. I always thought that writers were people who authored long novels and short stories or were paid to have their work published in magazines. I thought that if you didn’t get paid for a piece you wrote, you weren’t a writer. Because I was paid $6.20 for a poem that was published in a Christian magazine in 1963, I was willing to think I was a poet; but I never thought I was a writer. WHEN DOES A WRITER BECOME A WRITER? I finally called myself a writer after I took a writing course from Long Ridge Writing Group six years ago. My instructor, a published writer, taught me how to write a short story. And, I learned how to research and write an article. My first article about flower gardening earned me $250. Only then did I call myself a writer. I was wrong to wait so long to acknowledge that I was a writer. I denied myself the right to be called a writer during the years of my successful career and the life I lived in my family and community. Now, after five years at WDC, I know that I am a writer and have been a writer all of my adult life. Yet, I have one regret: that I did not start writing stories and books earlier in my life. As I look back, I realize that if I had believed in myself as a writer that I would have developed, by study and practice, the kind of writing success that I wished for all along. IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOU ARE A WRITER! Before you found Writing.com, you were a writer or you would not have been looking. If you found Writing.com and posted essays of your thoughts and stories and novels here, you are a writer. And, when you read and review the writings of others’, you are a writer. SO, BE THE WRITER THAT YOU ARE!! Take possession of your writing skills and use them not only by posting your work but by reading and reviewing the writings of others. Each time you communicate with another writer, you will gain perspectives and skills as a writer. After you posted your first short story and received a review, you grew as a writer. After you sent your first review, you grew as a writer. Admit it to your heart, you are a writer; now doesn’t that feel good? ALL WRITERS CAN TEACH AND ENCOURAGE OTHER WRITERS When I was asked to write a newsletter, I declined because I did not think I knew enough about writing to teach others. Strange, but during those years that I wrote grant proposals which were funded by Foundations and Government, I began to teach others to write successful grant proposals and I held workshops throughout Idaho. I was flattered when colleagues dubbed me “the Dean of Fundraising”. That happened because I had something to teach and I willingly taught. Now, I realize that I have something to teach, if only because I underestimated myself and can encourage you and other writers to not do the same. When I first tried to write a short story, I stumbled in developing quotations and adding action and descriptions that would let my readers know what was happening and why and how it affected the complete story. My earliest stories felt shallow and immature and I almost quit believing in myself as a writer. I didn’t give up. I realized that every effort was practice. What do we know about practicing? We know that the way to improve as a writer, or in any endeavor, you need to practice, practice, practice! The next paragraph will come easier. The next story will be more interesting. Success does come. No, I haven’t written a book even though I’ve written short stories. Even so, I pushed myself to write a longer story, and an even longer story. Finally I wrote a long story that ended up being 48,000 words. I won’t call it a book or novel; but, as a very long story, I’ve decided that is qualifies as a “novella”. Just to call it that feels exciting. One day I might write a story that is cohesive and long enough to call it a “novel”; and even publish it as a “book”. Or, I might gather many of my stories and essays into one unit and call it a “book”. One thing I have learned is that the more often you write stories that the stories will begin to write themselves. Your mind will begin to visualize the actions and relationships and “the story will write itself”. That is the magic that I have found. It’s the magic that can come to you because you are a writer. |
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