My Pathway towards Creative Writing Enlightenment

I just wanted to update everyone on my quest to improve my writing  skills

Someone suggested that I apply to the Iowa Writers Workshop but I think that might be a tad premature. Instead I purchased a lecture series from the university entitled “Building Great Sentences.” There are 24 lectures in all, but I have to tell you, I was completely floored after the first 10 minutes of lesson #1. The professor referenced quotes such as: “Jesus wept.” from the Bible or this from Joseph Conrad, “And from right to left along the lighted shore moved a wild and gorgeous apparition of a woman….   She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent; there was something ominous and stately in her deliberate progress.” (I might have to find a way to incorporate the Conrad quotation into my description of Diana.) How can I ever “learn” to write sentences like these? You can teach crafts and skills, but can you teach artistry? I have listened to the first nine lectures while puttering around the house but in order to really learn this stuff I need to sit down and take notes…

 I am also enrolled in an on-line course entitles Creative Writing Workshop  through ED2GO.com which I am finding very helpful as well as fun. The course is broken down into 12 lessons. Each lesson has a multiple choice quiz (which can be taken as often as necessary to pass) and a writing assignment.

My favorite assignment so far has been a point of view exercise.

We were told that Martha was waiting for the bus in a winter storm and the first person getting off the bus is Martha’s ex-husband. Write paragraphs from 3 perspectives (close, moderate or far).

I wrote: The Bus Stop Incident (In 3 POVs)

Inside Martha:

I love it when it snows. Why is the bus late? I hope that buzzard(1*)  is the first person off the bus. He can afford to go to Vegas but he can’t pay child support? Did I click the safety off?

(1*) I used a word that was filtered out by a censorship function. My intended 7 letter word begins with the letter b and ends with the letter  D

Outside Martha:

Martha elbowed her way through to the front of the crowd. The ground around the bus stop was covered by an icy slush. As Martha had expected, her ex-husband was the first person to step off the bus. He looked up when she yelled out his name. She fired a single shot when they made eye contact.

From Afar:

Witness #1 reported that the suspect, Martha Smith, had rudely pushed the witness aside at the bus stop. Witness #2 reported that the suspect, Martha Smith, was muttering something about Vegas and the kids. The bus driver, Witness #3, recalled that he heard someone in the crowd scream out a name, (John, possibly) as the first passenger got off the bus. He then saw a bright flash, followed by a loud bang. At first, Witness #3, thought the passenger had slipped on the ice. Only after seeing the snow around the fallen body slowly turn crimson did he realize that the sound he heard was that of a gunshot. 

Student comments:1) Awesomely crafted. We both new John to be a similar character. Unfortunately my Martha wasn't as strong as your Martha...but she didn't let him completely off the hook, either. Wish this truly was stranger than life. 2) Nice! Crime drama in your future? 3) In a word: AWESOME! Instructor: Good work on all three of your distance exercises!

My next favorite is called Galumphing (don’t ask me what that means, because I don’t know). You chose a 3 digit number between 000 and 999. Then pick the word from the three columns that corresponds to your chosen numbers.

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
0 = Map	0 = Comedian	0 = Museum
1 = Basket	1 = Traffic cop	1 = Golf course
2 = Car keys	2 = Science teacher	2 = Grocery store
3 = Wedding ring	3 = Foot doctor	3 = Hotel
4 = Umbrella	4 = Rabbit	4 = Thunderstorm
5 = Garbage can	5 = Car salesman	5 = Sandy beach
6 = Radio	6 = Gardener	6 = Bank
7 = Sculpture	7 = Scorpion	7 = Middle of a lake
8 = Man's suit	8 = Bride	8 = Airport
9 = Violin	9 = Auctioneer	9 = Sporting event

 Rolling a dice 3 times I ended up with 2) car keys; 3) foot doctor & 2) Grocery store and wrote..

Car Keys-Foot Doctor-Grocery Store

 Suffering from Multiple Sclerosis requires me to take extra care in planning my day. I need to avoid being out in afternoon heat (currently 107f @ 2:50pm on 07.05.12) and I try combine errands to conserve my energy. Today my schedule was fairly light; my first chore was to water the window boxes, hanging plants and the two tomato plants (I definitely needed to do that early because the plants were withered and were showing signs stress from yesterday’s heat); next on my to do list was a trip to Whole Foods (organic milk, organic whipping cream, organic frozen tortellini yada yada yada); and finally, I wanted to swing by the podiatrist’s office to have her look at the planter’s wart on the ball of my left foot. (I figured that I could do all that and be back at home by noon.) My only obstacle to executing this plan without a hitch was finding those darn car-keys. (Four drivers + one set of keys=mass confusion when 3 of the 4 drivers are under the age of 23 and don’t awaken before 10am) 

Not my strongest piece. This heat really does drain me, both physically and mentally.

Student Comments: 1 Strongest or not, I really enjoyed this.  You are very creative with the simplest of ideas.  I love the way you used your three words, and your piece had a definite VOICE to it! :)

Instructor: Nice slice of daily life, Scott!  The frustration and acceptance of life's common obstacles was entertaining.  Loved the planter's wart--not a usual detail showing up here!  But your creative side was functioning just fine.  Good one.

Anyway, that’s what I have been up to. I have revised the intro to my story and I am going to create an outline for the rest of the it.