Beach Reading for Writers

My name is Toni and I am a wr...wr...writer. I can hardly say the word writer because of all the preconceived ideas that surround the vocation of writing. For example, if you are not on the New York Times Best seller list, you are worthless, or if you are not making any money, you really are not a writer. I am also a teacher, and I am haunted by the old saying, "Those who can't-- teach." It is almost as though, I need to go to a support group like Alcoholics Anonymous except this one would be for frightened writers. Because of these ideas regarding being a writer, until recently, I have, for the most part never openly acknowledged that I write.

However, in the summer of 2007 I participated in the Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project, which gave me the confidence to call myself a writer. Being in a community with other writers and teachers exposed me to the joy and the struggle of writing. Joy- because writers look at the world with a camera man’s eye. They see what others do not see. Struggle-because it takes time and work to articulate the visions that they are given. It takes discipline to daily sit down and write, regardless of how tired you are.

It is in the struggle that I am challenged. The duties and responsibilities of my life have bullied the writer in me into a corner. Procrastination has tied the writer in me to a chair in the corner, and fear has kept the writer in me stuck in the corner. I have decided that this summer I am going to come out of the corner, and dedicate daily time to my writing. Toward that end, I plan to begin by revising the short stories I wrote in Dr. Johnson’s class, Fiction Writing, and I am going to write.