pivital point

Ok, so today was a little cRaZy. I finally finished my profile story on the new guy at the career center on campus. It turned out to be a pretty cute story, so far...just as long as the copy editors don't butcher it too much! lol

Most importantly I thank God for allowing me to get through this story, because I was having a really hard time with it. He helped me through indeed. I just hope the new assistant director will be happy with it, and others would enjoy reading it as well. I'm working to make my stories more relatable to the reader, and less "newsy" and loaded with facts.

I experienced another epiphany in my feature writing class today. Getchow always explains things in an awesome way when it comes to writing. His insights are like cool AC rushing into the room after coming inside on a blazing hot july afternoon in Texas, and a remedy to my negative thoughts I tend to belittle myself with. At times I become cinacle about the writing process out of frustration with myself. I'm not able to come up with the right words to say and let the language flow smoothly on the page like water gliding over a smooth stone in the Amazon. (I'm stretching this to make a point.) Today he read from "Bird by Bird", a book by Anne Lemont that I read last year and really enjoyed. As he read, the words off of the page resinated into my thoughts and mind. I sat attentively in my seat hanging off every word. Althought he talked about revision today, he also talked about the difference between writing a feature story verus just plain articles. He said horrible first drafts were ok, and that it's just a part of the writing process. I forget this some times. And sit paralized in my chair, crippled in my mind by fear. Fear that what I wrote could and will be used against me. By the end of class I decided that I would approach my future stories very differently from this point on. I want to entertain as well as educate, so I need to learn how to shape the words to keep the readers interest.

This day in age writers compete with TV and movies. A great challenge lies ahead for me, but I'm willing to fight. Today I restled in my mind over whether to have the student assistant edit my profile due today. I asked for help. I need to get better. She helped me tramendously! She saved my story from boredom.

Hand trembling, I handed her my copy. Then I watched as she fumbled through the first part of the story. She sat. Read. But then all of a sudden she leaned in closer to the black and white letters, reading the text intently, intrigued. Noticing this, I realized that she had reached the middle of the story at this point, the part that seemed the most interesting to me. She zipped through the last section, an easier read than the first half it seemed. She paused for a moment. Her face expressed a searching delicate choice in words in her mind.

"Maybe you should put this in your lead," she said. Just as I discovered/noticed. She advised me to lead with a story the person told me because it was interesting and she liked it. "It makes him seem more personable" she said. I see... Come to think of it, I thought the exact same thing after he told me the story. It made him more relateable. She said the first part was too loaded with facts, and the lead I had, she said the reader would have stopped after the first sentence and moved to the next best thing. So she gave me some ideas, and I fixed it. She helped me so today. And for once, after I read the story, I just stopped and smiled.

This experiene today (as well as my 20th birthday tomorrow) marks a pivital point in my writing, which will be different from now on.