HOW AND WHERE TO START WRITING?
I’m returning
to the topic of writing as I’m sure it would be of interest to many of you. It
may be that some of you also harbour the desire to put pen to paper or fingers
to keyboard. As the saying goes, there is a book in all of us. What makes the
difference between those who do and those who don’t, is the willingness to sit
down and make a start.
I talked at
length about confidence in my previous blog and once again it is having
confidence in our abilities or a specific desire, that will provide the impetus
to start with the first steps. Of course, our ideas or our writing will not be
perfect at the start, but it develops as we grow in confidence and hone our
skills.
I have always
been a scribbler and published numerous articles in magazines and newspapers in
my younger days. Then followed a career as an academic, demanding a very
different set of skills when it came to writing.
I remember as
if it was yesterday in my early days of learning the academic discipline of
writing, one of our Professors saying to me, “I am not interested in your
opinion or what you think.” This was a real challenge to someone like me that
has an opinion about any subject you care to mention!
However, I
persevered and eventually succeeded enough in the required practice to publish
numerous papers and articles in various academic journals, delivered a number
of papers at academic and non-academic conferences and even persuaded
mainstream publishers to publish three of my books related to my research
interests.
Do not lose
heart if the road seems challenging. I can testify from personal experience
that it gets easier as you develop your skills as a writer. I confess that the
academic approach to writing didn’t come easy to me. Probably because it didn’t
reflect my personality preference to approach everything that piques my
interest with abundant enthusiasm and a more, free flowing style of writing.
It took me
many years, and many failed attempts, to master its disciplined approach of
critically reviewing one’s own as well as the works and findings of others. I
do often wonder what the price of doing so might have been? Sliding doors; I
may never know.
Returning to
a different style of writing took time and effort. I also had to rediscover my
own voice and find my particular way of expressing my thoughts and emotions.
The latter is particularly problematic as emotion is certainly not acceptable
in academic writing.
The output of
the change of direction was in the form of a tribute to my gay brother and his
partner and their journey with cancer. My brother was diagnosed with terminal
cancer and after his death I wrote Goodnight
Doll in celebration of his life. I therefore had a strong
motivation that encouraged me to persevere.
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