Thought about Being a Writing Teacher

Creativity is a shy and easily discouraged creature...

I am a rebellious writing teacher. Why?

I believe that learning craft is useful, sure But ultimately, it is not what matters. What matters in terms of productivity is actually forgetting everything we've learned 'intellectually' and sitting our asses down, writing from the heart, and learning how, each and every time, to tell it our own way. Reading craft-of-writing books, which are EVERYWHERE these days, is great, and can be useful, but not if it fuels self-conciousness. Then, I think, we need to step back, and remember why we wanted to be writers in the first place..

And truly: before I knew anything about 'craft' in flash, I was writing at top form because I was so passionate and excited about learning to trust my own voice. And this is how I know that it is about learning to communicate who we are when we tell a story. It is not about learning writing techniques. Not at all. Everyone appears to be an expert in how to do it, are your in-boxes as exhausted as mine are with craft offerings?

The hard part, and the daily challenge, is in coaxing our stories out. They live inside our dreams, loves, worries, and in each and every one of our childhoods.. If we figure out how to 'free' our voice, we've won the game. This is not easy, because creativity is a shy and easily discouraged creature. Coaxing our own voices (and our own way of telling a story) out is everything.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash