Saturday, January 31, 2015

Fritch Gets Real

I have not been happy with my most recent posts--I read back over them and they feel dashed off and superficial.  I read over one hundred student posts every week and am continually awed at the honestly and reflection of my students.  I feel privileged, really, to see you guys struggling with what you know, with who you want to be, with how the world works.  

So, when I look back at my blog and see a list-type post that's not very thoughtful, I feel ashamed.  So I plan to commit to writing posts only about those things that truly matter to me, that make me who I am, rather than posts that feel like they've been written because I am trying to keep up with the post once a week guide I set for myself.  

Here goes...



"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek."--Joseph Campbell

Although this will probably surprise almost no one, I really want to write a book.  Or two. But, over a lifetime, I have built up this huge carapace of excuses I don't think I can shed.   

What does this carapace consist of?  All kinds of reasons (I don't have the time.  I am not interesting.  All the good stuff has already been told.  What's the point?).  But, at heart, it's fear.  I guess maybe I can concede that I am a decent writer, but if I try to write a book and even finish writing one, what if I can't get it published?  Or, even worse, I share it with Dale or my students and they have to admit that I was right all along--I am not cut out for writing after all.

See, if I don't ever try, I won't have to face that.  I know that sounds silly, but I have thought about it a lot and I think that's really it (the cave that Campbell mentions in the quote I posted above).   If I don't face the "cave", then I can continue to believe what people (okay--a few teachers, some students, Dale, my mother) have told me--that I can really write.  Which I have never entirely believed anyway. 








4 comments:

  1. Well you don't have to share it with anyone but people you are close to. Even if it's just a short novella. You only have to write 100 words a day or something like that and it can be like a diary only a book. If you're scared I really have no medicine for that, but I'd say even if you can't write something that anyone in the world including yourself can enjoy write for the enjoyment and accomplishment you get out of it.
    I was once watching this tv show/anime/I don't want to talk about it, where this one student wrote one-hundred pages of boring and was flat out told that it was horrible boring and that he should quit writing, but he was just glad that someone had read his writing and that he had accomplished something.

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  2. I've felt this way too, sometimes I will have late night thoughts and think, 'I am going to write a book, I'll work at it every day' but it never happens. I tell myself the same excuses. One day, maybe I'll actually get myself together and write a book.

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  3. What I really like about blogs is that it's still writing, but it's a lot more laid back and interactive than writing separately. If I were going to write a story, I'd post pieces or ask for help on certain things, etc. on the blog, and personally, that would make me much more likely to actually follow through and write.

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  4. I think it's a lot easier to be expressive through fictional stories, whether they be realistic or not. You can be unique in your character with no one but you judging your character. You can sing a serenade of love or cause mischief to play, but in the end it's your choice for the story.

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