“I Don’t Like To Write”
By
Joshua Siler
What makes for a fantastic piece of literature? What makes for a terrible one? Be it a
textbook, manual, novel, handbook, magazine article (the list could quite literally go on and on);
we have all read something that has inspired us to move into some sort of action. Or maybe it
stirred up emotions so strong that we felt the need to share our thoughts and opinions with
everyone around us. Now most would say -- and with logical reason – that it is the author who
is responsible for the things we read. It is the author who is responsible for writing the opinion
column that we find so repulsive we want to burn it in a holy fire. Of course it is the author who
wrote the novel that was made into a Hollywood movie; but is it really the author? Dig a little
deeper and you will find that every author of every piece of literature, from a five-hundred
page novel to a two page book report, has been inspired by something or someone; and that
has influenced how and maybe even why they write.
Maybe a writer has had their heart broken one too many times, hence the reason they always
write love and heartbreak novels. There is also a good chance the person posting military
writing on social media sites is a veteran or has a close relationship with a veteran. Every author
has an influence leading them to write the way they do; leading them to develop their process.
Leading them to develop the tools they will use to rouse us to action, or to boycott the very
publication of their writing.
Here at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, we have one such writer amongst us. One
who is in the midst of perfecting her process, and finding just the right way to touch seemingly
the very emotions of her readers.
“I don’t like to write” she’s told me multiple times. And as I watched her write all I could think
to myself was “what a liar!” Emily Watson is a first year student here at the university, and a
smart one at that. A biology major from Wynne, Arkansas who just so happened to make it into
honors composition, and it’s not hard to figure out why. We sat on the second floor of the
school library. Easy going and quiet is the best way to describe the tone up there, and Emily’s
personality. She’s shy and reserved, but as I later discovered, this works to her advantage when
she begins to write. We were there to observe each other for a project we were working on
together. There wasn’t much time wasted as we exchanged greetings (where I think I did most
of the talking). We muddled over who was going to observe the other first. I guess I had
reached a vague conclusion as to who was going to write first. I thought that would be me, so I
began my process (putting on my head phones) and started to hunker down into my notebook
when I noticed she started writing. This seemed normal as I thought she was taking notes on
me.
“I don’t like to write” she’s told me multiple times.
I started to write and I noticed she was still writing too. At first I thought more notes. But
unlike normal note takers who go back and forth between jotting things down and looking up at
the subject they are observing, she had multiple sheets of paper out, was leaned over the table,
had her head gently tilted to the left and resting as she used her left hand to hold her head
steady, and was writing, fast. I spent about thirty to forty minutes working on a draft for my
project. That whole time I thought she was supposed to be observing me, she wrote as well,
and she wrote a lot. When I had reached a block and could not write anymore I looked up
happy with what I did. I had gotten down about four paragraphs for a little over half a page of
writing. I then glanced over at Emily (who was still writing). She had about two pages! Sad part
is I already had one of my four paragraphs completed before she ever got to the library.
“I don’t like to write” she’s told me multiple times.
I told her I was done writing and that I would now be observing her, and without much
talking she continued writing. While watching Emily write, you could say I had an epiphany; that
was that when she writes, she goes from human to machine. The only time she ever looked up
was when I asked her a question. She had her phone right in front of her opened up to a tab of
notes she could refer back to as well as another piece of paper which she had written notes on
protruding from the top of, and underneath, the paper she was currently writing on. She kept
writing. Moving her eyes from her paper only to refer to her notes, never looking up. She kept
writing. Steady in that fixed, comfortable position. The only body parts moving were her hand
as she wrote and her eyelashes as she batted her eyes. She would stop to erase something
every now and then, sigh and get right back to work.
“I don’t like to write” she’s told me multiple times.
Her process is very straightforward. She kept writing fast. “So do you like to write to get things
down on paper and you organize your thoughts later?” I asked Emily, “Or do you actually try to
write seriously the first time?” “I just wrote the facts down right now” she replied. She
continued “I try to meet the requirements when I write” referring to the three page minimum
length requirement for our project. She lastly stated “I try and write it all down that way I only
have to change a little bit of stuff later.” She then got back to writing. About fifteen more
minutes passed when “I’m done. My hand hurts” hit my ears. She looked up, shook her wrist a
little bit and smiled. I think she was happy to be done.
“When I’m writing for a class, my biggest motivation is getting a good grade and writing a story
or paper that expressed my thoughts in the process.” She’s told me. “My strategies for writing
aren’t really complicated or special. I just try to sort out some of my thoughts by putting them
in a bulleted list. Then I begin putting them into words and expand on those ideas using backup
facts and details.” And both of these statements were on display through her writing and our
conversation. “When I write, it normally takes me about thirty minutes to get my thoughts
completely in order, and putting them into words and thinking of supporting ideas normally
takes another thirty minutes or so. Once I get going though, a steady stream of ideas start
running through my head almost faster than I can write/type them out. Depending on the topic
and length requirements, I can get it finished anywhere from thirty minutes to three days.” This
was probably the most prominent thing I noticed, because as the thoughts kept coming, she
kept writing.
“I don’t like to write” she’s told me multiple times.
“My fears about writing are not having enough information to support my ideas, being
misunderstood, and being criticized for either my ideas or my lack of writing ability. I can put
together an organized paper, but I don’t consider myself a strong writer as far as displaying my
ideas in a creative and inviting manner.” “I don’t like having other people read my writing. I
always feel like my writing isn’t good enough, but I don’t know how to make it any better, so I
feel like I’m always being silently criticized.” As I think about these words, I find it hard to make
sense of them. I watched her make changes on the fly to improve her rough draft. I watched
her write, not caring about what neither I, nor anyone else was thinking. I also noticed that she
writes to accommodate her fears, meaning she writes to tackle these fears specifically. She is
well aware of them, but she is also aware of what she needs to do to improve them.
She had been writing for about fifty minutes to an hour straight through. And what did she
have to show for her hard work; four whole pages for her draft. “How many pages did you
write? Four?” I asked her. She counted and replied “Yes. But I write kinda big.” “That’s still four
pages you got” I shot back at her. She smiled, which is the one thing I noticed she does more
than write. I didn’t read what she had written during that time, but a few things became clear.
Number one, she is a serious writer. Watching her made it clear how she had gotten into
honors composition her first semester in college. Number two, taking into account the
seriousness and tenacity she displayed while writing, whatever she wrote is probably going to
be really good. Number three, she should not be a biology major, and if so, she’ll probably be
the one writing the textbooks. And lastly, never trust an innocent smile.
“I don’t like to write” she’s told me multiple times. Well she sure fooled the hell out of me.