Anne Dillard's article, "Write Till' You Drop", is an interesting piece that will hopefully get me to write more freely as the class progresses. However, at the same time, just sitting here trying to write this blog, I think too much of what I'm going to write next instead of just simply following my thoughts. Throughout most of writing career, from when I was first learned to form sentences, all the way into college and today, the majority of the writing that I have done has been based on strict guidelines and is mostly a response or an essay that reflects another piece of literature we were assigned.
Most recently, the thoughts of taking a creative writing course here at Oakland University have sparked my interest. With the majority of my writing being based on the work of another writer, I wonder how I would fair taking a course that allows me to start from scratch using my own thoughts. Actually, it wouldn't even have to be a class for me to do this. I could start now, in my room with a pad of paper. Following Anne Dillard's advice, who know the possibilities? She makes a lot of good points that I will be sure to use this for this class and the rest of my writing career....
What does write more "freely" mean? Why don't you feel like you can write using your own style at this moment in time? As you say, the strict guidelines offer comfort don't they? Try to start approaching writing as not a systematic affair but rather as an exploration of what you can do within those guidelines.
ReplyDelete