Writing is Easy - And So Is Brain Surgery!
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"The final paper you submitted, Jerry, is one of the worst papers I have seen! You must turn in another paper or you will not complete the course!" Those were the words of my Writer's Digest writing instructor, Dr. John McCollister, as he rejected my final paper!
Writing is easy...all you have to do is to stare at a blank page or a blank screen, until blood beads form on your forehead...Gene Fowler.
As a woodcarver, I'm out of the art and craft world and not out of the writing world. In college, I did not major in English, journalism, communications, etc. In high school, I was not on the staff of the high school newspaper either.
I got interested in the field of writing in a peculiar way, and it was through my wood carving pieces is how it happened. Over the years, I had carved over 200 original wood carvings in many different types of wood, and I sold my work at arts and crafts shows and a few shops and galleries. I've been in the humor business for most of my life, so my wood pieces were mostly cartoon-like characters designed to make people laugh, etc. I carved human and animal characters as well.
I carved human figures in many different occupations and professions like doctors, nurses, and homemakers. I also carved animal characters like dogs, cats; a racoon, elephant, owls, and many more.
Several years ago, I was participating in a three day show in Old Town (Albuquerque, N.M.), and things went well for me the first two days as far as sales were concerned. So, on the third day, I could relax a bit. I decided to fool around a little bit with my work, and I decided to write out a few captions on pieces of white card stock I had with me, and place them in front of the wood piece doing the "talking." This was experimentation, as I wanted to see if I could caption the pieces later, after they were photographed for the purpose of making small posters out of them.
Wooden pieces talking? A far out idea, but I thought it was worth a try, especially in front of a live audience. For example; the skunk caption would read: "Help Stop Pollution!" The elephant caption would read: "No more elephant jokes, please!" I wrote about a dozen captions for the various wood pieces and I wanted to see what happened.
As the day went on, people would stop by the display, read the cations on the wood figures, and they seemed to like them. If someone bought a piece, they would ask me if the caption came with the piece, and I would give it to them. As the reaction was good from the public that day, I was trying to come up with captions for all the pieces, and most of the figures on the display had captions. I was enjoying myself, as visitors would come to the display, read the captions and smile. I had never heard of anyone doing this before.
This is how my interest in writing got started. Eventually, just about all my wood pieces had captions on them. Except for a piece like a Manger Set, an eagle or a hawk, etc. Later, I described how the idea for the piece or scene came about, and if there were any problems connected with doing the piece. This was important, because later I wanted to put a book together of all my work.
My interest in writing started seriously, when I was invited to join the Southwest Writers Workshop, by the then, President of the organization, Eileen Stanton. She is quite accomplished, as she has sold over 5,000 articles to some of the top newspapers and magazines in the country. She has also penned a book. With over 1,000 members nationwide, SWW has some of the most talented and accomplished writers in the country. Needless to say, I was flattered by the invitation, and I began to take writing more seriously.
So much so, that later, I took and completed three writing courses in my 40's, including: Writer's Digest Course; the National Writers Club course; and a creative writing course at the University of New Mexico, to try to improve my writing skills, etc. It took me about a year to complete the courses. Because I had not been in school for a long time, there were a few bumps along the way. For example:
"The final paper you submitted, Jerry, is one of the worst I have ever seen. You must turn in another paper, or you will not complete the course!" Those were the words of my Writer's Digest instructor, Dr. John McCollister, as he rejected my final paper. Obviously, I was not a happy camper when he did that, as I was just about to finish the course! But, my instructor was right. I had been on the course about six months, and I was in a hurry to finish, so I submitted a pile of trash. You know the old saying, garbage in...garbage out!
So, after about a month of pouting and crying on my part, I wrote another final paper, and this time it was accepted. After completing the writing course, the final letter was sent to me by Dr. McCollister, and is too lengthy to publish here, but at the end of the letter he wrote:
"Richard (Jonathan Livingston Segall) Bach, once said; 'Some of my greatest friends are those whom I have never met in person.'
He was speaking of those whom he had gotten to know through their writing, and I feel the same about you, Jerry. You not only have the ability to communicate the facts, but you can convey feelings through the printed word...that's just talent...plain and simple! Keep writing, Jerry, and let us know here at Writer's Digest if anything "hits" for you, and we will shout it from the rooftops."
As you might imagine, Dr. McCollister's words have been very special to me, and he has inspired me to continue with my writing ambitions, etc. In completing the course (after whining for a while), I now have much more confidence with my writing skills than I did before. This is especially true when I built my website. I had the confidence it would take to put up one page after another another, until the pages numbered over 200 on my website.
Young or old, if you think you need help with your writing skills, get that help! Writing courses are expensive, so I don't recommend a writing course unless you can afford one. But, there is always the library, or you can buy books that will help you. If you have a community college in your area that you can attend, it can be the most helpful to you. Taking and completing the writing courses was one of the best things I have ever done for myself. Nothing worthwhile comes easy. If you want something to do that is EASY...why don't you become a rocket scientist!
Jerry Aragon's Last Articles :
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