Saturday, April 26, 2014

WANT, but I have NOT


Sometimes, I feel I strongly want to write a story, but no words come out as powerful as my feelings and desire to express my inside. I am quite good at writing instructions and explanations to my students and colleagues, posts about my teaching experiences, or debates to explain my viewpoints with others. My problem arises when it comes to writing stories and descriptions.  

I know I have a great desire to start writing creatively. 

Many questions come to my mind when deeply thinking about this issue as a learner and writer:
  1. Is it a problem of lacking a huge list of poetic vocabulary to choose from? 
  2. Is it  a lack of background about other styles of writing to learn from? 
  3. Is it a matter of time and persistence to achieve a level of mastery in this kind of art?
  4. Is it a talent or gift from God that some people have?
  5. Is it possible to write creatively and play with words although I don't have a narrative writing style? 
  6. Can I learn the tools of being a successful novelist?
Please, don't say it is so easy to do this. Just go and start writing and writing and writing. I'm a very passionate learner who loves pursuing challenges and achieving difficult goals. I tried to improve my creative potential through attending some writing courses and getting engaged in many tasks. I admit I loved my pieces of writing, but they weren't what I love to read. Here is my blog that I kept to track my progress and improvement during five weeks of the "Crafting An Effective Writer (CEW)" course.

http://ejournal4writing.wordpress.com/

Although I spent much time doing the required tasks, I was not satisfied with the final products. Discussing the main question about writing styles with my peers in the forums, I found that I have a Teacher (i.e., expository) and Activist (i.e., persuasive) writing styles.  This explains why my descriptive and narrative writings are not creative and rich. 

Here is a piece of my CEW writings that asks for describing a natural object or scene in nature:
Leaning on the trunk of an old fallen tree in my grandmother’s lifeless garden, my eyes quickly went into a deep slumber after a long day of work. I woke up to the lovely sounds of birds singing and spinning over my head. Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I saw an incredibly charming scene with no human touch: crystal sea water, bright blue sky, colorful birds and a large grassy meadow all around. The waves lapped the seashore gently sending a cool breeze towards me to smell. I kept breathing deeply filling my lungs before it blew away with the wind. Looking around, I found them, blushing red flowers proudly stood, and gently swayed to the sea song. If I were a bee, I would spend the whole day buzzing around, just smelling their sweet fragrance, heavy in the air. The first rays of the sun, which were so white, slowly shone down upon the crystal-clear sea water creating a breathtaking landscape with delightful colors of the rainbow. Two dolphins graciously jumped out of the water making a big splash to say hello and celebrate my arrival. My eyes deeply closed, I tried to lustily hug this magnificent scene, when my 80-year-old grandma’s croaky deep voice sent me back to where I was on the other side of the sight. Although it lasted a few moments, this dream stuck in my mind simply because it carried unforgettable memories in my life.
I am also about to begin a new e-journey of writing. It is a free online course hosted by FutureLearn about "Writing Fiction". If you are interested, please join me on April 28, 2014. I hope I would find what I'm searching for; tools of crafting my own style of narrative writing.

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