Lofty Goals

A quote from the movie Never Been Kissed has stuck with me for years: "to write well, write what you know." This quote has been attributed to Mark Twain and several other authors over the years, and though many disqualify the value of it now, I still believe it holds some merit, especially for writers who are just starting out. But even better may be the following quote from Valerie Sherwood, "Don’t write what you know—what you know may bore you, and thus bore your readers. Write about what interests you—and interests you deeply—and your readers will catch fire at your words." This is what I am setting out to do.

I have held writing close to my heart since I was about 13 years old. I have at least 8 or 10 journals filled with random poetry and prose and diary-style entries trying to figure out myself and the world around me. But all of it has been kept secret, doing me no good in my day-to-day life. Well, hopefully, I can start to change that, even if by the smallest increment at a time. I have long complained about how dissatisfied I am with my career (or lack of one) while working in one frustrating, dead-end, stressful job after another…. I have wished I could go back in time and change my college degree so many times. Political Science and Latin American Studies were fun subjects as a student, but have done me no good in the real world. If only I had chosen a Business major, that would be more versatile and more likely to place me in a position with upward mobility. Or if only I had done Accounting, I have come across countless Accounting positions over the last few years via Temp Agencies that I "almost" qualified for, if only my degree concentration had been in the Accounting field.

 

 

Then of course, we come back to writing, well, in a roundabout way, as I always tell stories. My mom has enjoyed decorating cakes for as long as I can remember. She made the most awesome cakes for me and my brothers when were little that I LOVED. Then when I was a teenager, she actually had the chance to take a few decorating classes and learn how to do roses and make the base frosting look professionally smooth and just all different sorts of cool techniques to make her cakes even more awesome. Over the years, many people who have seen (and eaten) her cakes have exclaimed "Why don’t you do these professionally?!" Her response has always been the same: "I decorate cakes like this because I enjoy doing it, if it was my JOB that would take all the fun out of it." This was the thought process that was ingrained into my brain that when it came to considering writing as a college major or for a career. I thought it would take all the fun out of it. But the reality I discovered much too late is that writing for a living would have given me the ability to actually ENJOY my job; to love going to work every day, or for that matter, staying in my pajamas to work from home every day. But alas, the few times I have attempted to get writing-related jobs, I have been turned down because I was never a part of newspaper staff in high school or college, and I did not major in English or Journalism in college. Never mind all of the "First Aid for Your Wallet" articles I co-wrote for SIFE which were published in the St. Augustine Record, or the Annual reports and scripts I did for SIFE, or the three semesters of Writing Center Tutoring that I did for fellow college students. So securing a writing-related job at this point is pretty much a lost cause.

 

 

This brings us to my current self-challenge: To write what I know, and to write it well, in a setting that might possibly give me some sort of pride and affirmation of my abilities and self-worth. Hopefully it will also provide a stress outlet and maybe even help me make some new friends/contacts. I have been admiring a couple of my friends’ blogs a lot recently, and stumbled across a few more that are actually written by "professional bloggers", a concept which currently boggles my mind. It would be the ultimate dream come true to be able to do that, or to even use this blog to get a foot in the door to any type of writing position, be it freelance or permanent – anything!

 

 

So my question to the few friends and family that currently read my tiny little insignificant blog is this: what topics would you all like to read about? What bothers you every day? What would you like to know more about? What struggles do you face? It is likely that many of us deal with the same things and I would love to do a little research on those key topics, throw in a little of my own experience and opinions, and try to help other people, while helping myself. Even if you can’t think of anything off the top of your head, comments, feedback and ideas will always be greatly appreciated, as the entries start to flow. Thank you to all of you who support me, and many who have believed in me for years already, even when it has been very hard for me to believe in myself.

 

 

Yours truly,

Mickie

"Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." –Thomas Edison