“What I hate about writing is the paperwork.”
- Peter De Vries
Note: This is a revision of what was posted in the Swan Song
What do you want to be when you grow up?
A 3rd grader might receive such a writing assignment or something like it. I don’t remember those painful tortures from school. My mind has tried to shield me from those.
The first story I remember writing was probably from 2nd grade, when we were given a writing prompt. Several children were on the playground, and in the center was a water fountain. Yes, at some point in the distant past, drinking fountains could be found on playgrounds, and kids didn’t tote around water bottles. Well, this particular fountain had an excited group of children gathered around watching some yellow liquid spewing forth. I think it was supposed to be lemonade. In this day and age, mothers would be herding their children away, telling them not to touch it while calling the CDC.
I don’t recall my complete version of the story, but the punchline was “hey, it’s fountain dew.” (like Mountain Dew, ha ha) My teacher laughed, which was a good sign.
My mother tells a story about me writing a book report on hippopotamuses, which I read from a book meant for very young children. This was either before kindergarten or during it. I had learned to read before school, and apparently write too. Either way, I don’t remember any of it, but my mother had her version of the tale.
In a roundabout way, I’m saying that I’ve probably had that talent for writing from an early age. The paperwork and deadlines scared me the most. Without the time pressure, I could’ve explored my creative side more. Time can produce robust aged cheese and fine wine, but it can also curdle milk and spoil a good plot.
And then there was the dreaded paperwork. From 2nd grade to 12th grade, the writing assignments were always written in pencil in cursive for the rough draft. After we found any spelling or grammar errors, we wrote the final draft in pen in cursive. This work was tedious and time-consuming, especially when my flash of inspiration came at 2 A.M.
Nothing could be worse than those writing assignments in high school, except for some social awkward situations that teens find themselves in. That led me into the world of computers and computer languages, which could be equally satisfying and creative. And I didn’t have the tedious task of writing in cursive with a pencil.
Still, I had to take a freshman English class in college, but it completely changed my view of writing.
I took the class during the summer, which made it a small class for a large university. Usually, they would have a grad student or an associate professor teach the class. Our small class was taught by the head of the writing department, a full professor. He didn’t fit the stereotypical professor, who was an old man with a quirky personality.
Our professor was in his fifties, and he was ripped. We didn’t use that slang word back then, but suffice it to say that arm wrestling him wouldn’t get me out of any writing assignments. Despite his strength, he had a very calm and easy-going demeanor, and he seemed to care more about the students than the subject matter, making him very approachable.
As for the course, he never talked about grammar. We first started on critical reading. He would provide us with examples of essays that needed improvement, and we learned to identify areas that could be enhanced.
Then, we wrote essays, simple ones. We learned how to structure our arguments and present them effectively. The process sounded similar to what we did in high school, but this was more in-depth, and he carefully guided us along.
After we wrote our first drafts of our essays, he gave them back to us and told us to critique them as we did at the beginning of the class. Instead of fixing spelling and grammar mistakes, we were making them better, for real.
Suddenly, I realized I could’ve scribbled anything on the page for the rough draft and fixed it later. A whole new world of writing opened up to me. All those years in school were wasted, spent scratching out final drafts with a pen to fix spelling mistakes. What I should have been doing, what they should have been teaching us, was to rewrite the assignment. With the pen! There would have been a rebellion.
Alas, my college English class was short, and my chosen career was with computers, so my writing skills went undeveloped.
I can’t put my finger on when, but it’s felt like an urge or a need to learn to write better. I don’t have any grand expectations of instant fame overnight, but I feel like I should make time to write.
Walt Whitman’s poem “O Me, O Life” comes to mind. The last line has stuck with me: “That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”
I want to contribute, even just a short verse, to the mass of literature out there.
As a God-fearing Christian, the parable of the talents in some way describes me. I feel like that servant who was given just one talent and buried it. Now, I feel the need to dig up that one talent and use it wisely. Hopefully, at my age, making at least half a talent more will be enough.
Now, my goal has been to write. I was even ambitious enough to write a novel. Honestly, I struggled to sit down and write sometimes. It felt like the writing assignments in high school all over again. Once I started for that day, my mind focused on the work, and I felt calm, finding joy in writing.
To add that thrill of writing, I discovered how much I enjoyed rewriting the garbage that I first dumped on the page. Those lessons in college English class made sense and helped me find the joy of writing. Ernest Hemingway said, “The only kind of writing is rewriting.” I absolutely agree.
Computers have also made the process much easier. I cannot imagine writing a novel with a pen or even a typewriter. Spell checkers, grammar checkers, and AI have become powerful tools in an author’s arsenal. However, I believe the greatest invention in computers is the backspace button. Without it, I would have been frustrated and discouraged from the outset.
Having spent my career immersed in computers, I could go on about the marvels of modern technology, but I’ll leave that for another publication.
My point here has been how much writing has changed my life. When all along that talent has been there, I just needed to learn to embrace it.
I write nearly every day. I’m not a perfect writer, but I see the effect on my mood and motivation in my life. It has opened my eyes to see the world in a whole new light. Even if I’m not popular or produce something earth-shattering, it has changed my world. And that is worth it.