Skepticism about whether to obtain or not a creative writing degree is a never ending debate. If you want to be a successful writer and plan to pursue a teaching career, you’ll need a degree in creative writing. Even if you just want to be a writer, it’s better to have a degree in creative writing—if you have the opportunity to do so.
The benefits of getting a degree in creative writing:
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Exactly. I’m supposed to update my blog, yet I’m busy on Facebook, exchanging news with friends I haven’t met since high school. Not soon enough, more friends requested to be on my list of friends. Before I knew it, I started searching for more old friends. Now my list is bulging.
Then, the news spread like fire, my former editors (which I’d worked with my young adult novels written in Bahasa) found me. Or rather, I found them. I was beyond excited. After exchanged pleasantry, I stuck around. I started to write more in Bahasa. My writing in English has turned secondary. So do my novels I’d written in English…
Currently, I’m writing my new WIP in Bahasa while conversing in English in my daily life. My brain is busy adjusting between these two languages—back and forth, back and forth, what with the different grammar structures, etc. And it has messed up my writing.
Gah.
So, I’m going to blame Facebook for what happened to my writing adventure. But, no matter what, I’m still writing—in both languages.
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I have to admit. I procrastinate. My manuscript has been sitting for weeks now, waiting for me to continue writing. Not only that but I’m also far behind in updating my blog. And I blame this latest gadget I just acquired for my procrastination… The AlpaSmart word processor.
I’ve been dreaming of sitting and writing in the park this coming summer. I hated my notebook computer because there are so many games on it and I usually end up playing them when bored or ehem… an excuse to procrastinate. Then I also hate the battery for it can’t hold power much longer when I need it.
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Here I am, sitting in front of the monitor, pissing at the blinking cursor in front of me. I did try to write my query letter. But all I get are complicated sentences that even the DH’s eyes started to glaze over while reading it.
Yeah, you know how it felt don’t you? I am talking to those who already published their debut or 100th novel out there. You’ve been there and done that. There is no mystery that writing the query letter taxes the business side of the writer—like me who now have to turn off the creative mind, turn it inside out and think like a business person—all to have a chance at marketing my novel through my query letter.
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Horaaay!!
Yay! I completed the third revision of my novel and it’s now ready for the next stage. I’m just so excited I finally got it done. And it couldn’t be better timing for my next project—Nanoing on November, 1 – 30.
What? Wait a minute! Did I just say that? Nanoing on Nov. 1? When I don’t even have a clue of what should my next plot is about? Am I going insane?
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Indeed.
You need to be alone—just you and the notebook computer in front of you, the cursor blinking faithfully waiting for you to start your first stroke of the keyboard.
You need to be alone. Just you, surrounded by books on writing, as friends and as a portable writing coach—to help you navigate your plot. And you’re dying to be outside, to be with others.
No one but you can get the job done.
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While sitting here editing my manuscript in excruciating pain and misery, I wondered why I wrote this piece of fiction in the first place. And if you’re asking the same question like me, then you’re not alone. Rewriting, editing or whatever you name your revision process for your draft brings out all sort of emotional angst—now that you’re forced to look at your manuscript through a cold eye.
The fun of writing just ended. Now the real task begins.
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Do you believe in writer’s block?
I heard of a writer who after having the first novel published couldn’t write for years afterwards. No matter how hard the writer tried there was no second manuscript in sight.
If that is an accurate description of what writer’s block is about, then it’s pretty severe and scary thing for a budding writer like me to know.
Right now writing is not a problem for me at all.
But wait!
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Read! Read! And Read!
Sorry, but it’s not a secret at all. And this is what I’m doing lately. I am reading a lot – nonfiction and fiction from my favorite authors. From mystery writers to romance novels, I search the ones I like best.
I am a voracious reader. And this causes me trouble. I often borrow books from the library longer than I should (and this is even after being renewed three times!). My DH (Dear Husband) always becomes the one who rescues me from the “sideways look” of the clerk at the library. And when I thought I was safe, my DH whispers giving me the sideways look. “Why is it that whenever I return your books they always have fines on it?” Witnessed the scene, the clerk gave me a sour look.
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After completing my short story a couple of months ago, I managed to write another short fictional piece (750 words) and a short memoir (1,500 words). Between editing my manuscripts, I became overwhelmed with ideas coming down like rain. I felt practically pelted – so to speak.
So, amid rewriting I’ve stopped, grabbed my note pad and started to jot them down furiously. Now I have a couple of dozen ideas ready to be turned into fiction – or do I? Well, it happens that these ideas are, you know, just ideas – I couldn’t turn them into fiction.
I wondered why that is? After analyzing the situation for a while I think I knew the reasons. Here they are:
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