[Jill Malcolm]

When people know I write for a living, they often say something like: “ Oh I’d love to be a writer,” or “I want to write a book someday,” or “I would love to write but I’m just not good at it,” or “ I just don’t seem to have the inspiration.”

My reply is that everyone who can pick up a pen or type on a computer is already a writer. There is no magic division that makes me a “writer” except that I do it for a living.

There is a big difference, however between writing and writing well. And the students on these courses have recognized that writing is a craft and like all skills it has to be learnt. So well done.

One of my favourite quotes is from one of the greatest writers of all time, Ernest Hemmingway.

“It’s none of their business that you have to learn how to write. Let them think you were born that way.”

 

[Robyn Welsh]

Hi Jill,  This is great.  Thank you for that refreshing perspective on all things written.  I’m a journo making a delightful detour down the pathway that is creative writing for beginners.  I’m blowing dust off  brain cells that I didn’t know I had.  Lots to do, lots to learn and, as it turns out, lots to write about that I didn’t even think I knew about.  Seeing the world through different eyes and swapping hats depending on what I need to write up next is my new kind of multi-tasking.

Thanks Carol for alerting me to Jill’s ‘Journalism’ post.

[Jill Malcolm]

Hi Robyn.

Thanks for the reply. Good on you for pushing yourself away from the known.  It can be a big plunge but it’s exciting. Let me know if there is anything puzzling that arises and I will offer an opinion if I can.  But the one of the things I know, and the thing that is marvellous about writing, is that you never stop learning. I learn just about as much as I teach. I marvel at other people’s superior abilities.  I’ve discovered that you never ‘get there’, wherever there is.   That’s what keeps me trying to do better.

>>>>>>>>>>

Getting feedback is so fast these days. Who remembers when your letter to a penpal across the world took 3-6 weeks to arrive and get responded to? I do. Now all this takes a nanosecond. Make the most of the technology. BM