When I was a kid, I loved reading and I could really get lost in a good book. In fact, I had a reputation in my family for sneaking off and reading when I was supposed to be doing yard work or helping with the dishes.
My grandmother would sometimes get me to memorize poems and recite them to her -- long, old-fashioned poems full of rhyme and rhythm, by Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Walter Scott and Sidney Lanier. I loved the sounds words could make, and so did she.
I thought it would be cool to be a writer someday. But along the way, as I grew up and tried to imagine what kind of work I could really do as a grownup, I made a big mistake. I thought the ability to write poems and stories and novels was like a birthday present, all wrapped up in a box with a ribbon, and you either had it or you didn't.
That is so not true. And thinking that way can make a person give up too easily, when other people aren't impressed with your clever poem, or someone doesn't like your essay about visiting the Grand Canyon, or you yourself realize that your story is pathetic compared to the brilliant stories of Raymond Carver or John Cheever, and your young adult novel is dull and shallow compared to anything Katherine Paterson ever wrote.
It took me a long time to realize two things about writing:
- You never get it right the first time. Good writing, for most writers most of the time, is really hard work, and you don't get good results without revising and revising. And then revising some more.
- If you want it bad enough, you can have it. You can make yourself into a good writer by reading, reading, reading, and writing, writing, writing. Whether you turn out to be truly great or not, you can gain the satisfaction of creating something new that can touch other people and make them smile, or cry, or think. Or all three.
Let me quickly add that it isn't all drudgery and slaving away at the keyboard. There are wonderful times too -- when I feel completely absorbed in what I'm writing, when I have an exciting idea about what could happen next in the story, when I feel proud of something I've finished.
So, if you like reading and writing, I hope you'll try creating your own stories and poems. I hope the first draft is fun to write, and the second and third and fourth get better and better!
