The wonderful thing about writing is that the more we do it, the better we get. This is not something I could say about learning how to do a backwards somersault!
I’m a retired technical Writer (lowercase t, uppercase W). I often tell people that I can write my way out of a paper bag. May not be exciting or interesting, but I’ll get us out efficiently and properly. That line actually clinched a position for me once🤭
Oct 16, 2023·edited Oct 16, 2023Liked by Ramona Grigg
I wrote my first book kind of on a dare. It was a Roman-a-clef and was definitely YA, a retelling of something that happened to a close friend in high school. Then I decided I liked writing and would try for another one. This one was painful. It took me three attempts to write the first few chapters, and after plowing through over 125K words I had a hard time ending it. But there it was. It was a good story but after applying myself to more books I realized how badly written the first part of book #2 was. So over a period of time I rewrote it. 133K words became 126K and it read MUCH better. And I even released it as a second edition. For some reason some nice people had absolutely loved version one (as I said, it was a good story, and I guess that's what most readers really want, something they can lose themselves in). Now I've written and published 17 books over the past 10 years, and with each one I attempt to improve my craft. Some people even buy my books! But that's not why I write. Once I started, I realized all my life as a musician I had been re-creating the work of other people. And now, for the first time, I was actually creating. And I can't stop doing it.
The first book I wrote is now called (by me) "An Audience of One" because it is so awful. I don't know whether I should burn it when I get really old, or rely on the fact that house-emptying companies don't read stuff prior to throwing it into the dumpster. . . On the positive side, that book, in hindsight, was a vessel I created to hold non-narrative trauma "memories." Using the basic ingredients of my unrecalled past, and moving everything to a different era/country, I managed to get the story out and on paper. Very useful.
I recognized myself in this post. I am in the early stages you described. I would never identify myself as a writer, just someone trying to improve. I'm going through the motions and growing pangs right now of figuring out what writing is to me and what I am to it. I really enjoyed this piece.
Every once in a while I will read a piece or watch a video I made long ago and be surprised I could do something so good, 'I will not likely be able to pull that off again' I think to myself. Mostly though I experience everything you just said Ramona. I love that you had to put writer on your tax form before it was real to you, I guess we all have our line in the sand, I'm not sure what mine would be.
One of my strengths is I have never thought of myself a good writer. Analyst yes, writer mixed.
The wonderful thing about writing is that the more we do it, the better we get. This is not something I could say about learning how to do a backwards somersault!
I’m a retired technical Writer (lowercase t, uppercase W). I often tell people that I can write my way out of a paper bag. May not be exciting or interesting, but I’ll get us out efficiently and properly. That line actually clinched a position for me once🤭
Words to live (or write) by!
Ha! I love this because when I go back and read some of my OLD writing I'm like wow, that truly sucks 😂😂
But it's nice to see visual proof of improvement over the years. We are all works in progress.
I wrote my first book kind of on a dare. It was a Roman-a-clef and was definitely YA, a retelling of something that happened to a close friend in high school. Then I decided I liked writing and would try for another one. This one was painful. It took me three attempts to write the first few chapters, and after plowing through over 125K words I had a hard time ending it. But there it was. It was a good story but after applying myself to more books I realized how badly written the first part of book #2 was. So over a period of time I rewrote it. 133K words became 126K and it read MUCH better. And I even released it as a second edition. For some reason some nice people had absolutely loved version one (as I said, it was a good story, and I guess that's what most readers really want, something they can lose themselves in). Now I've written and published 17 books over the past 10 years, and with each one I attempt to improve my craft. Some people even buy my books! But that's not why I write. Once I started, I realized all my life as a musician I had been re-creating the work of other people. And now, for the first time, I was actually creating. And I can't stop doing it.
Are we allowed to cringe without actually having to read our old stuff?
Great points, Ramona.
I literally just wrote (this morning) about something I wrote 28 years ago. Parts of it weren't half bad!
Those are the parts I'm paying attention to right now.
The first book I wrote is now called (by me) "An Audience of One" because it is so awful. I don't know whether I should burn it when I get really old, or rely on the fact that house-emptying companies don't read stuff prior to throwing it into the dumpster. . . On the positive side, that book, in hindsight, was a vessel I created to hold non-narrative trauma "memories." Using the basic ingredients of my unrecalled past, and moving everything to a different era/country, I managed to get the story out and on paper. Very useful.
I recognized myself in this post. I am in the early stages you described. I would never identify myself as a writer, just someone trying to improve. I'm going through the motions and growing pangs right now of figuring out what writing is to me and what I am to it. I really enjoyed this piece.
Every once in a while I will read a piece or watch a video I made long ago and be surprised I could do something so good, 'I will not likely be able to pull that off again' I think to myself. Mostly though I experience everything you just said Ramona. I love that you had to put writer on your tax form before it was real to you, I guess we all have our line in the sand, I'm not sure what mine would be.
II was taught that if you have to explain a joke, it was a mistake to make it!
Yay Ramona, thank you, I needed to hear this.
Interesting. As Grandpa used to say, a lot, "always keep learning."
Thanks for your honesty. Much of what you have written has resonated with me. Inspirational!
The best is always yet to come!