The Writing Thing

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When I was at the wedding reception yesterday, a neighbor of the bride's parents--the guy I sold my in-law's house to--asked me how the "writing thing" was going. He asked me this from across the table, so clearly everyone could hear my response. Tony's a nice guy. He's a teacher, a videography hobbyist, and the father of two small children. I'm not sure what people think when they find out I write, and that I spent money to get a graduate degree in creative writing. When people hear I went to Northwestern for my advanced degree, they immediately think that I went there for my MBA. I didn't get my graduate degree to further my career, really. While I want to teach, and I have had the opportunity to do that a couple of times at our local community college, the desire to get my Masters Degree was really influenced by the creativity part. I like to write. I always have. When I sought out programs, the conversations I had with Cyndi revolved around my desire to be a part of a writing community. An expensive venture, I'll admit, but it was a great decision. One side benefit was the lesson it teaches my kids. The lesson that it's okay to fuel your passion. I demonstrate to them that I can not only take care of my family, but I can express myself, taking the necessary steps to get where I wanted and needed to be.

I told Tony the writing thing was going great, and I thanked him for asking.

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I read this article today about a guy who collects replica typewriters. He collects them on famous authors he likes. His criteria is that he has to have a picture of the author at the typewriter itself. He can't just know the specific item, he has to have photographic evidence. He's collected them for Hemingway, Anne Sexton, William Faulkner, and Flannery O' Connor. He writes almost everyday on one of these replicas. Computers have made creative writing a much different process. You can edit your work as you go along on a computer. You can rework a sentence, a paragraph, a whole story so much easier than writers whose tool was a typewriter. They didn't have the luxury of the delete or backspace key. They had to create their art as it came to them; the rewriting process was so much more difficult.

While I edit as I go along, I approach my blog without much pre-thought. I try not to pre-package the entry. I try to just sit down and write what comes to mind. It's almost like writing with a typewriter. I just wonder what the quality of my end product would be like on a typewriter. It couldn't be any worse, I guess.

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Frank McCourt, the guy who wrote "Angela's Ashes" died last month. July 19th to be exact. I had no idea.