Day 99: Can creative writing be taught

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 99: Can creative writing be taught

Joe, a Facebook member, posted this question today … ‘What do you guys think about an aspiring writer going to college to become a fiction writer? Good or bad idea?’

Rather than giving him a direct answer, his question became the inspiration for today’s blog post.

Many years ago, I had a pen pal called Nadia. This was before the Internet became popular and people exchanged letters instead of emails. Our letters were no ordinary letters, but pages and pages of stories that resembled a small newspaper. We started out writing with pen and paper, later used a typewriter and ultimately switched to a computer.

Nadia’s letters were fluid, interesting and funny. She wrote from the heart and I could tell that rather than writing, she was talking to me.

A few years later, Nadia told me that she planned on writing a short story for a national competition. As it turned out, her submission was not only accepted, but she won 1^st prize and gained television, radio and newspaper exposure.

Rather than this victory building up her confidence, it destroyed it. Nadia couldn’t write anything anymore because all her creations fell short compared her winning story.

She decided to enroll in a creative writing class. Three years later she graduated with distinction. During these three years, I had noticed a change in Nadia’s letters. They were no longer fluid but mechanical.

When as tactfully mentioned this to Nadia, she wholeheartedly agreed. She said ever since she took the course, writing was no longer a labor of love but torture. She agonized over word choice and sentence structure, often rewriting the same sentence over and over again until it was as perfect as possible.

When I remarked that this was probably advisable for story writing, she didn’t have to go through such trouble while writing a letter to me. Her response was ‘I can’t help it. I’ve become so aware of being grammar perfect that nothing but the best will do.’

Ultimately, the book that Nadia intended on writing never materialized and she couldn’t even produce another short story. In her quest for perfection, she had lost her creativity.

To answer Joe’s question … Go to college to improve your language skills, but where it comes to your creative spirit … nobody can teach you that.

Don’t forget to donate to the Toronto Cat Rescue.

Any amount will make a difference.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/toronto-cat-rescue-bowl-a-thon-9/

Day 17: Pick a word from a dictionary and write about it - trainer

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 17: Pick a word from a dictionary and write about it - trainer

Okay, I encountered a bit of a snag here ... I don’t own a dictionary. So I turned to Google and asked to present me with a random dictionary word. Google came up with ‘Trainer’. This word suited me just fine as it gives me the opportunity to tell you about the time I took my dog to obedience school.

My dog was called Laura, a Belgian Shephard and while a beautiful animal, she was not very obedient. Taking her for a walk was nothing to look forward to. She would strain on her leach, the leather cutting into my hand, and I would hardly be able to keep up with her. And heaven forbid when she saw a cat or a bird. She would take off like an arrow from a bow, dragging me behind her.

When a neighbor suggested obedience school I made inquiries and Laura was accepted for the September/October class.

The first Saturday afternoon we showed up at the school, which was a large grassy field with a pavilion, I was surprised at the attendance. There must have been 60 men and women there, accompanied by German Shepherds, Labradors, Border Collies, Golden Retrievers, French Poodles, Dobermans, and an assortment of mixed breeds.

While the owners made conversation, the dogs sat next to them, lay down on the grass, or tried to get acquainted with each other.

At precisely 3:00 p.m. one of the trainers called the gathering to order and requested them to go their allocated spot: beginners, intermediates and advanced. It was obvious who the intermediates and advanced men and women and their dogs were, as they knew where to go. Only the beginners class stayed behind.

Laura and I, along with 10 other dogs and their owners were directed to the left-hand side of the field. The class started by commanding our dog to sit.

“Sit” I commended Laura, but she looked up at me with an expression that said she was perfectly fine standing. “Sit,” I said again and again and eventually she must have thought ... okay, if you insist. So, she sat.

Next came the command to lay down. When I commended Laura to lay down, she had no problem with that. She lay down, front paws elegantly stretched out in front of her. Good dog. 

Getting her to get up again proved to be difficult and I could see her point ... first you want me to lay down, now you want me to get up ... make up your mind.

We practiced and practiced and eventually Laura had it down, she sat and lay down on command. Now came the part where our dogs had to sit and had to remain in place while their owners walked away (a short distance). Laura was having none of that. I had barely taken three steps or she came after me. Walking away while Laura lay down proved to be just as impossible.

Week after week Laura and I joined the other men and women and their dogs, most of them well behaved if not super obedient (the dogs I mean).

Toward the end of October, obedience classes came to an end and the training season would be rounded off with a party. One of the staff members handed me an invitation and Laura promptly bit her arm. Not bad, but enough to warn her.

“Never extend your arm to an owner while the dog is present,” one of the trainers said. “The dog might think that you’re going to attack the owner. Do it slowly and let the owner extend his or her arm first.”

So, while technically Laura had done nothing wrong, we were banned from any future lessons. Biting a staff member, even with the intention of protecting an owner, was not acceptable.

“Don’t feel bad,” the instructor who had been working with Laura said to me. “Laura might not be the most obedient dog, but where it comes to protecting, she doesn’t need any lessons.”

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Dealing with anxiety

My blog updates have been on hold for a while. I was in the middle of a freelance writing project and other than writing for that project there was no time to do anything else. In fact, I had to call on a friend in Australia to help me out to make my deadline. (Many thanks to LH).

It was a good thing that the work was finished because yesterday I had to attend an anxiety class. The class ran for 8 weeks and today was our second gathering.

It didn’t go too well for me. In fact, I got kicked out of the class.

A bit of background first.

A few months ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with palpitations. My heart was pounding; I couldn’t breathe and I was shaking like a leaf. Not trembling, but violently shaking. It took over half an hour but finally, I was able to go back to sleep.

When I mentioned this to my doctor a few weeks later, she believed I should attend an anxiety class, also known as ’Face your Fears’.

Initially, I thought that we (the attendees) would be confronted with spiders (as lots of people fear spiders) but that was not the case. The fear we would be dealing with were fears that influence our lives.

I had high hopes, but already from the first session, I had my doubts if this class would be beneficial for me. One person feared going outside, another feared inadequacy, another yet feared performance issues.

So yesterday was our second session and the instructor gave as an example a woman who had been robbed and as a result didn’t dare to go outside anymore. She asked the group for our reaction.

Most of the people sympathized and felt sorry for her. I didn’t. For a while, I managed to keep my mouth shut, but when the instructor asked me directly what I thought, I gave her my opinion with no holding back.

I told her that sympathizing with the woman and pitying her didn’t help. What she needed was some tough love. She was robbed … she wasn’t beaten, she wasn’t raped, she wasn’t murdered.

As an example I told the group that I had been robbed too (at an ATM machine), my house was burgled a year later (they stole everything they could carry), and I had witnessed the aftermath of a bomb explosion. That was far worse than being robbed. So, she was lifted of twenty or forty dollars, big deal, she should just get over it.

Well, that did it. I got kicked out. At break time the instructor told me that this group wasn’t for me. I can’t say that I disagreed. I thought the group a bunch of whiners.

When a woman said that she felt perfectly fine until she became a mother and now fears that she’s going to make mistakes, I had the urge to roll my eyes. I wanted to tell her … "You’re gonna make mistakes. I did, my friends did, everybody does."

Another complained that his friends bring him down. That sometimes he feels good about himself, but then someone will say something and he will feel inadequate. More baloney. If someone was to say something hurtful to me I would respond with … "Who are you to judge me? Are you perfect, no? … well neither am I."

A third one felt too stressed at work and is now on long-term disability. There’s a simple solution for that … take away his disability money and he’ll be back at work in no time. So, he felt stressed, who doesn’t at times? But we go home, we get a good night sleep and the next day we show up at work again.

I was stressed at my writing job too. I had so much work that I knew I wouldn’t be able to cope. So, I contacted LH in Australia with the faint hope that she would agree to help. I feared the worst but hoped for the best. And guess what … she agreed.

I dare say that my Australian friend and I are similar creatures. We both faced difficult situations in the past, but we dealt with them and it turned us into strong women. 

Instead of attending an anxiety class, we could lead a class and you’d better believe that we could teach those whiners a thing or two.  

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Meet Nancy Matson

With the release of “Debbie” just days away, I thought I’d introduce everyone to Nancy Matson, the illustrator of the book. 

Robin Tidwell interviewed Nancy and what an interesting lady she is.

https://robintidwell.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/meet-illustrator-nancy-matson/#