| It's a Lesson to Me by AJ Brown |
Not too long ago came an occasion where I had to talk to a friend of mine about his
progression as a writer. He was down, maybe a little depressed with what he
perceived was the world passing him by; writers that had been writing as long as
or less than he were surpassing him in abilities. Or, so it seemed.
In short, he was frustrated with himself.
So, I sat him down and we discussed where he was, where he wanted to be and
some of his ultimate goals as a writer. I shrugged.
"I know what you're problem is," I said.
"What is it?"
"You lack confidence in yourself."
"Nah. I've always been confident, even to a fault."
"That means nothing when it comes to writing."
"Why not?"
I had to think about that for a second or ten. I hadn't expected that question. This
was my answer:
"You played sports growing up, right? Writing is like a sport."
He gave me a puzzled look.
progression as a writer. He was down, maybe a little depressed with what he
perceived was the world passing him by; writers that had been writing as long as
or less than he were surpassing him in abilities. Or, so it seemed.
In short, he was frustrated with himself.
So, I sat him down and we discussed where he was, where he wanted to be and
some of his ultimate goals as a writer. I shrugged.
"I know what you're problem is," I said.
"What is it?"
"You lack confidence in yourself."
"Nah. I've always been confident, even to a fault."
"That means nothing when it comes to writing."
"Why not?"
I had to think about that for a second or ten. I hadn't expected that question. This
was my answer:
"You played sports growing up, right? Writing is like a sport."
He gave me a puzzled look.
"You have to want to play a sport in order to strive
to get better at it. You have to want to write in
order to strive to get better at writing. Then you
have to practice, practice, practice to continually
better your skills as an athlete. It's the same with
writing. You have to practice, write everyday. It's
the only real way you can improve.
to get better at it. You have to want to write in
order to strive to get better at writing. Then you
have to practice, practice, practice to continually
better your skills as an athlete. It's the same with
writing. You have to practice, write everyday. It's
the only real way you can improve.
"Then there is the aspect of different techniques in sports. Take for instance
baseball. One pitcher may throw four different pitches: a curve ball, a fast ball, a
two seam fastball and a slider.
While another pitcher may only throw three pitches: a fast ball, curve and a slow
breaking ball.
Let's say the pitching coach came in and told his pitchers he wanted to teach them
a new pitch, maybe a split-finger fast ball or a knuckle ball. They would have to
learn how to throw it, learn the technique, how to grip the pitch, where to release
it in the pitching motion, find out what type of outs you could get with those pitches
(does it induce pop ups or ground outs or can they strike the batter out with it).
"Writing is very much the same. You learn one way of writing and then you
expand, step out of your comfort zone and experiment a little. This makes you a
well rounded writer. It gives you more styles to play with instead of the same
cookie cutter way of writing.
"Like most athletics, there are rules you have to learn. The same with writing.
There are dos and don'ts. You have to learn them. In sports, you can't learn all
the rules at one time so you tackle them as you go along. You do that with writing
as well—you tackle the writing rules one at a time, apply them to your writing and
then move on to the next set of rules. It helps you to build your abilities, albeit
slowly."
I paused. My friend looked to be taking all of this in, nodding and so forth. He
even asked a few questions, which meant he was actually listening.
I continued.
"You know though, all of this means nothing if you don't have confidence in your
abilities."
"But I do have confidence," he argued.
"No, you don't. It’s one thing to have confidence while you are writing, but it's
another thing altogether to have confidence in someone else viewing what you
have put down on paper. You have to view your abilities in a way that makes
others believe in you. Without that confidence you can hang it up."
My friend chewed on these thoughts for a while.
You folks out there listen to me for just a second. Writing can be achieved by
learning about it, practicing it and then having confidence in it. Will that make you
a great writer? Maybe. It depends on the person; the determination of each
individual. Pick something out that you absolutely LOVE to do. Not that you like to
do, but something that you LOVE. It is the thing that you probably practiced the
most at to be good at it. Think about it. Am I right?
Yeah, I thought so.
If you want to be a good writer then you have to work at it. Some folks have a
gift and it comes naturally to them. I think my friend Dameion is that way—he
just has a way with words and I don't know anyone who writes better than he
does. Period.
Now, my friend, let me tell you who this writer is, the one down on himself. You
see, I look at him everyday when I gaze into the mirror. Sometimes he's cocky,
but not often. Other times he's bullheaded, yeah very often. However, all of the
time he works at it, works at the writing so one day he can be the best writer that
he can offer to the public.
Oh yeah, and he's pretty confident in his abilities. Sometimes he actually listens to
me.
Now, get to your desks, open up your processor program and get to writing. And,
while you are at it, believe in your abilities. Sometimes you are the only one who
believes in you. It's up to YOU to make everyone else believe in you.
For now, I'm AJ and I'm out.
baseball. One pitcher may throw four different pitches: a curve ball, a fast ball, a
two seam fastball and a slider.
While another pitcher may only throw three pitches: a fast ball, curve and a slow
breaking ball.
Let's say the pitching coach came in and told his pitchers he wanted to teach them
a new pitch, maybe a split-finger fast ball or a knuckle ball. They would have to
learn how to throw it, learn the technique, how to grip the pitch, where to release
it in the pitching motion, find out what type of outs you could get with those pitches
(does it induce pop ups or ground outs or can they strike the batter out with it).
"Writing is very much the same. You learn one way of writing and then you
expand, step out of your comfort zone and experiment a little. This makes you a
well rounded writer. It gives you more styles to play with instead of the same
cookie cutter way of writing.
"Like most athletics, there are rules you have to learn. The same with writing.
There are dos and don'ts. You have to learn them. In sports, you can't learn all
the rules at one time so you tackle them as you go along. You do that with writing
as well—you tackle the writing rules one at a time, apply them to your writing and
then move on to the next set of rules. It helps you to build your abilities, albeit
slowly."
I paused. My friend looked to be taking all of this in, nodding and so forth. He
even asked a few questions, which meant he was actually listening.
I continued.
"You know though, all of this means nothing if you don't have confidence in your
abilities."
"But I do have confidence," he argued.
"No, you don't. It’s one thing to have confidence while you are writing, but it's
another thing altogether to have confidence in someone else viewing what you
have put down on paper. You have to view your abilities in a way that makes
others believe in you. Without that confidence you can hang it up."
My friend chewed on these thoughts for a while.
You folks out there listen to me for just a second. Writing can be achieved by
learning about it, practicing it and then having confidence in it. Will that make you
a great writer? Maybe. It depends on the person; the determination of each
individual. Pick something out that you absolutely LOVE to do. Not that you like to
do, but something that you LOVE. It is the thing that you probably practiced the
most at to be good at it. Think about it. Am I right?
Yeah, I thought so.
If you want to be a good writer then you have to work at it. Some folks have a
gift and it comes naturally to them. I think my friend Dameion is that way—he
just has a way with words and I don't know anyone who writes better than he
does. Period.
Now, my friend, let me tell you who this writer is, the one down on himself. You
see, I look at him everyday when I gaze into the mirror. Sometimes he's cocky,
but not often. Other times he's bullheaded, yeah very often. However, all of the
time he works at it, works at the writing so one day he can be the best writer that
he can offer to the public.
Oh yeah, and he's pretty confident in his abilities. Sometimes he actually listens to
me.
Now, get to your desks, open up your processor program and get to writing. And,
while you are at it, believe in your abilities. Sometimes you are the only one who
believes in you. It's up to YOU to make everyone else believe in you.
For now, I'm AJ and I'm out.
AJ Brown is in this issue for:
Interview
Fiction
Interview
Fiction
| This was originally written for his blog at The Odd Ramblings of AJ Brown |