Art forms: writing

One of the things I love about art is that it takes many forms. Today, I'm talking about writing.

I was an English major and it was my dearest ambition to write and publish a book. I was good at poetry and non-fiction essays, but I really, really wanted to write fiction! And I was really, really bad at it. My senior thesis was a novella; one I'm hoping will stay in the university archives completely forgotten and never noticed again.

When I started writing my thesis, I was taking a few psychology classes and became fascinated with the concept of addiction - particularly pornography. I thought I needed to write as graphically as possible to get my point across. Turns out, I didn't. And I really didn't have a firm point anyway (pun totally intended). By the time I realized that maybe the university wasn't quite ready for this subject, that it might just open me up for criticism I wasn't ready for, and that it might just maybe embarrass my poor family, two of which were either employed or enrolled there... it was too late to start over. And the story was terrible, too.

After I graduated, I started on a new book. I wanted to write a super-cool young adult fantasy novel set in my home state. While I worked on it, I sent snippets to my two best friends, who are also literary types and voracious readers. When I asked what they thought of my latest chapter, there was some uncomfortable squirming and, "I was meaning to read it, I just haven't had time lately." Well, then and there I knew; it was just bad writing. My friends would make time for any reading they found interesting, and stay up late to finish. My work wasn't keeping their interest.

And that's okay. I have great ideas and maybe someday I will write that novel. But I'm not quite thirty yet; I've got some time. Maybe I will have more success writing a memoir, or maybe not. I'm pretty happy with this new venture of blogging and painting, and I love reading my friends' published articles and living vicariously through their success. My friend Tabitha keeps getting published in various magazines, journals, and collectives. I LOVE her writing and hearing her take on everything from "Mad Men" to feminism to video games. So, a toast to a fellow artist!

Here's a link to her latest piece of art on female identity: pdxxcollective: My Wife. And a link (pun also intended; you'll see what I mean) to a collection of my favorite essays: hobart: Games of my Youth.