A “New” Writer?

If you don't know Keith Jennings, get to know him through his Sunday newsletter, Root Notes.

A few weeks ago I published a post about Keith's newsletter on his resolutions. Keith is a writer and shared with us some very wincing things we do when we write, and his resolutions to fix them. I emailed Keith and sent him a link to the post in which I shared his work. In my email I told him I was a new writer. He emailed me back and once again, made me think. Stopped me so hard, I was stuck in thought and it's taken two weeks to answer him. He asked what I meant by a "new" writer.

I've been saying that to people for three years now and no one ever asked me what I meant by that. I just assumed I meant that I never sat down to put my thoughts on paper in any organized form until now. For some reason that was not the answer I wanted to give Keith. He makes me think in such a way that my mind stops and shifts tracks. He made me stop and think that if you say are a writer, you have probably been a writer all your life. You don't just wake up one morning and say, "Now I'm a writer." So I spent two weeks thinking about that every morning while brushing my teeth. (Probably then because Keith's writing resolutions are on my mirror.) I carefully combed through my 59 years to find evidence that I was always a writer.  During this diligent morning ritual I also realized that lately I've been describing myself as a "new" artist, too.  I really don't think I got up one morning last week and decided I was going to do artwork, either.

Sure enough. Writing and art materials were my favorite things in my preschool bedroom. (My dad will tell you how long it took me to learn you don't use crayons on your bedroom wall – and I don't mean a sneaky little mark here and there to test it – oh no – full blown murals which I spent hours trying to remove with wet washcloth until learned – paper only.) My husband will attest to the involved compositions I would produce for every essay assignment – he has been a classmate of mine since fourth grade so he has quite a repertoire of stories of me all through grade school and high school. In college I never remember complaining about the papers we had to write. I always remember spending 12 hours, in sweat pants, going without food, and feeling totally exhilarated by the project I was working on. Sprinkled in throughout all these years I remember always using art to make my own cards and messages. Somehow store-bought just didn't cut it – no one could say it quite like me. In my teaching career – 12 years in fourth grade and 23 in kindergarten – can you guess what was my favorite subject to teach? Yes. Writing. Not handwriting, but teaching children to free their minds, explore their thoughts and discover that which lies within.

So, is it a big surprise that when I retired three years ago, the first thing I did was join The Cape Cod Writers Center to connect with and learn from other writers? Did it matter that I had never put my thoughts down in any organized way? Did it matter that I had no idea what I wanted to write or even how my writing voice sounded? Did any of that mean I wasn't a writer yet? No, I think not.

Did I wait until I wrote 6 picture books, part of a novel, am now illustrating a picture book for another author, have recently started a little business teaching young authors workshops to children and posted this blog everyday for two and half years now? No. The reason? I was always a writer and an artist, but  just didn't realize it until Keith asked me that very thought-provoking question.

I now look at everyone I meet and I think, what are you capable of that you haven't discovered yet? Are you a writer disguised by life too? Or an artist? Or a dancer? Or a cook? Or a bird watcher? Or a hiker? Or …or….the possibilities are endless of the things that could have been covered up by your life, but were present all these years.  If you trek back through your decades, will you uncover a talent, passion, or skill you always had, but never acted on?  Exciting stuff.

And so, as another day goes by, I said it last week, I said it yesterday, I'll say it again today: (kind of fun quoting myself – can you tell?) "We all have a passion that propels us forward in life. It's our responsibility to unearth that passion."~Me and…..I have written.

Related articles

I'm not a writer. Wait…you say…I AM?

Be nice...please share.

Pinterest

Twitter

Email

Facebook