Inspirational Writing

Lesson 2: Write for Your Life.

The great novelist Toni Morrison said, "There's a difference between writing for a living and writing for life. If you write for a living, you make enormous compromises and you might not ever be able to uncompromise yourself. If you write for life, you'll work hard, you'll do what's honest, not what pays." Still, having the desire to write for life, or record hard-earned insight from actual events, can lead you to write for pay.

Being rewarded in cash for doing something you love should not be considered a bad thing. Remuneration gives a writer further incentive to nurture an already fulfilling activity.

Every trade master began his/her dream through practice and nurture. Skilled doctors, carpenters and singers once set out to accomplish small but adored goals each day because they loved their hobby enough to make it a part of their life.

As a writer, you can do the same. Nurture your hobby daily by learning to recognize share-worthy situations then recording them on paper.

As a human being you have a natural inclination to share experiences. By doing what comes naturally you should become an expert at this business.

The Heart of the Matter

Learn to capture the heart of the matter. The idea is to present everything that is "the story."

For example, you are writing an essay about a kind stranger who helped you pick up some spilled groceries. Does it matter what sort of groceries spilled? Probably not, unless the stranger commented on how s/he buys all the same brands, beginning a new friendship with you. Might it matter how s/he behaved while helping? Absolutely. The heart of your essay is, after all, the heart of the stranger -- any of her/his actions are significant.

SEEK AND SPEAK TRUTH:

Very simply stated, write plainly. Using plain language will allow you to present one important point then move to the next, which will better serve you in presenting the story -- which will motivate your readers to enjoy all you've written. And, writer-Reader communication can be a valuable asset.

Take Lois Duncan, author of the book (and film) "I Know What You Did Last Summer." As a teenager she wanted to write for audiences her age. She studied teen magazines. Before she was out of high school she had learned how to contribute concise and helpful articles to Seventeen Magazine.

Her secret? Focusing her writing on what she has learned.

FOCUSING ON WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED:

Duncan wrote a section in our recommended book titled "How to Write Your Way Through College." The section describes how she was a professional writer and mother of five children who up and decided to go to college. She needed a way to help with family income. So she came up with a scheme: she would sell everything she learned. Her husband didn't believe she could do it but was willing to give her a chance.

As an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico, she turned targeted skills into effective articles, poems and books! Using textual quotes and those supplied during professor lectures, she came up with the following:

From Psychology 101, she wrote an article titled "Our Son was Uncontrollable" for the "My Problem and How I Solved It" section of Good Housekeeping magazine.

From a Poetry Writing course, she sold poems to Guideposts and Woman's Day magazine.

Additionally, she was inspired by a class in Edgar Allan Poe to create a Poe-like novel: "Down the Dark Hall" is still in book stores today -- and novel writing became a hit and life's work for Duncan.

A "Myths" class gave her the information necessary to sell works to The Encyclopedia Britannica.

Most importantly, literature courses created new goals of writing proficiency for her. She ended up tripling her writing income and some!

Using Duncan's example, each time you write about a subject you should ask, what have I learned? Your answer is your story.

*Note: From a course in Photo Journalism, Duncan sold one hundred fifty photos to publishers. She even created a book with photos and poems of children that sold to a religious publishing house. Per number of photos Duncan sold, it is evident submitting photos for reference increases the likelihood of being accepted by publishers (and you have my permission to use an average camera)!

MENTAL EXERCISE:

Think of a learning situation. What would you write about it?

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