WRITING CLASSES? THE WRONG WRITING CLASS

Who has taken writing classes?

Everyone who went to high school, went to college, or joined a writers’ group.

It starts early and keeps going.

By that standard, everyone is a writer?

Yes, you are. Here’s why:

You have a story, a living, breathing, story.

Call it ‘Your Story.’

This happened, that happened, here are the results.

There you were, minding your own business, when the phone rings, the knock at the door, you look out the window, and everything changes.

 

The voice on the phone:

“We know who you are and we saw what you did.”

 

The knock at the door gets louder and louder.

“Honey, can you get that?”

“EEEEK”

 

Looking out the window:

“Did you see that?”

 

The Correct Writing Classes

Any writing class does one of two things: make you want to quit, or make you want to get better.

If a class makes you want to quit, you’re giving too much influence to the instructor.

If it makes you want to get better, then you will.

But even a bad class can make you a better writer.

I had a guy at PSU who looked like he spent his day locked in a dank garret with his typewriter and whiteout.

This guy taught night school, which seemed perfect. He didn’t look ready for the light of day.

He’d been a rower in college, a memory he shared.

 

“It’s the most miserable sport in the world. All you see is the back of another man’s neck.”

 

The guy had obviously never wrestled, a sport that shows the worse views in all of sports.

Did his students go on to bigger things, or just take his class to get the writing bug out of their system?

Or maybe they took another direction altogether.

Did one of them start a blog, then another blog because one blog is not enough?

These damn bloggers have way too much to say. Click this for an example.

 

How To Make Your Mark

First, define your writing goals.

I wanted to get an opinion piece in the local paper.

Since the owner of the paper lived up the road, and I saw him spreading dirt one day, I stopped and talked to him.

The topic? Sports.

He was intrigued, so I told him I’d written an opinion piece.

He said, “I’d like to see it.”

After it was published I took a victory lap around my car with fancy dance steps for the occasion.

I’ve had more than a couple in the town paper, and the city paper. I was on my way?

If I was on my way, I was going with empty pockets since no one volunteered to pay up.

And my columns drove no traffic to boomerpdx.

Instead of writing to fill space in someone else’s endeavor, I focused on this project.

 

Let’s Talk About You

Have you taken writing classes?

Maybe you’re an English Major and you don’t need another damn writing class since you know what they’re all about.

Well, did you know this:

If you take a screenwriting class from an accomplished instructor with decades of movie and television credits, you know they are the smart one in the room.

But your script is a WWII story based on historical events that they don’t recognize?

Learn from your fellow students.

Maybe you added too much information in the wrong place and overflowed the banks of your story?

It happens.

 

Imagine a story about a new dog.

Make it a nurturing story with a twist.

A wife says a woman needs something to nurture once the nest is emptied.

Like a dog.

The husband is not so keen on the idea, so they get a dog.

Slowly he realizes his wife thinks he needs something to nurture so she can nurture him.

And she’s right.

Everyone lives happily ever after.

The End.

 

Imagine a story about an old dog.

A story about your favorite college football team and how fast disappointment dissipates after a loss.

 

Write a story about Christmas Pony. (Hey, Joan.)

 

You need writing classes like a shoe salesman needs his tools.

 

Get the right fit the first time and you’ll be walking the walk.

Take the writing classes that appeal to you and you’ll be walking the walk, too.

Click the link above for a comprehensive list of free classes.

Are you planning an essay?

Maybe write a movie?

Scroll around, screw around, then settle down and put things together.

Who does that? Who can do that?

You can do that. In case you were wondering, it’s you.

You can do it.