Writing with My Knees Shaking
It is hard to categorize myself as a writer. I have tried to write a science fiction novel at least
three times, but I don’t think of myself as exclusively a science fiction writer. I have a very
active imagination, a desire to learn about as much as I can. Yet, I am weak in the “hard
sciences.” My writing is more character-driven as opposed to technology-driven. I would
describe myself as a “creative writer.” I still continue to blog.
My writing bent started in childhood when the neighborhood kids and I would write picture
books. One of mine had to do with a girl named Maria, who dreamed of lots of tortillas. I do
worry if I was stereotyping or not, but I was just a kid who was fascinated with things Mexican. I
wrote a story to my mother once of a girl whose mother didn’t let her become a Girl Scout. My
mom asked if I wanted to be a Girl Scout and I said “Yes.”
In sixth grade, I wrote an awful essay about Robert A. Heinlein, but it did show where my brain
was. I was fascinated with books like Red Planet and later, Stranger in a Strange Land.
When I was in my teens, I wrote a poem that was closer to song lyrics. My assignment in
American Literature was to write a poem in iambic pentameter. The teacher threw the poem in
the trash and gave me two lines and told me to finish it. My Dad helped me and I did
accomplish it.
This led me to write really morbid poetry, half of which was pretentious. “When I walk the city
streets/thoughts pick at my mind as vultures pick at their dead.” That was not the greatest
poetry, I was probably 17 at the time and lived in the suburbs, what I call a “fishbowl.”
I started taking journalism at University of Houston Downtown and wound up writing two front
page articles for the school paper. A teacher wanted me to become editor, but there were no
more journalism courses to take at the time. So, I transferred to the main campus.
The campus was larger, but there were many more courses I could take. Plus, I eventually
became a staff writer for the school paper for the main campus. I mainly covered religion. I
also wrote articles for Teacher’s Forum
When I graduated from University of Houston, I wrote several articles for a small community
paper. I have been writing on and off ever since, everything including online articles, poetry,
lyrics, and novel attempts.
An editor on one of the school papers I wrote for told me that I had no business writing. He had
been working with me on the paper and co-wrote a couple of articles with me.
I decided to show a poem to him. He looked at it and said that the words didn’t “sing.” He then
proceeded to tell me that I had no business writing and that all the editors had dreaded having
to correct my stories. Plus, he told me that a long time ago, he had to told me to choose
between writing and singing.
Needless to say, I became angry at him. I also was so discouraged that I swore I would never
write again. Of course that did not last. I wrote numerous articles and some poems for a
church single’s newsletter before and after that incident.
I love to write when nobody’s looking and when I can do the “stream of consciousness” type of
thing. Yet, this is exactly how I have gotten in trouble with my latest novel attempt.
I have learned a lot from creative writing teachers, mainly. But most of my education has been
online.
I wrote a science fiction short story called “Perspectives.” I did not win an award, but a judge
wrote that it was a “nice science fiction story” and he thought it needed to be a longer work.
Looking back, I cringe at the original manuscript, but I have been working on a novel by the
same name.
It seems as if I have been paying a lot more attention to what I write. It is hard to isolate only
one incident. I believe that knowing my weakness, as well as my strengths; will help me to
learn much a lot more than I did in my earlier days. I do need to regain some of the confidence
that I lost.
I enjoy the beauty of language and description, such as in Taylor Caldwell and CS Lewis. Yet, I
also admire the conciseness of many authors, as well. Many of my favorite authors are in
between, such as Anne McCaffery and CJ Cherryh. I would like to use both conciseness and
richness in descriptive detail in my own writing at appropriate times.
I recognize the fact that readers do not have the time to linger in too much description in a book.
Some of this is due to our busy, fast-paced society. Another reason for this is that readers
enjoy “rock ‘em, sock ‘em” action that they are accustomed to as movie-goers.
Miraculous enough, I still consider myself a writer, despite some setbacks and criticism. I have
always been a better writer than speaker because I am able to express my ideas clearly. I
believe I have been successful as a writer in the past and am still able to be so in the future.
I am very scared about my writing. I doubt my ability to finish this novel because of my “nonscientific” background. Often, I am intimidated by people who seem to be further along than me
in courses I am taking at this time. Much of this is due to the fact that I had been away from
academic writing for a long time and I had to work much harder to catch back up. I expected
things to be a “breeze.”