The Author's Voice/From Behind the Printed Words
I worked with Desiree in my school counseling room once a week. We brought together paints and canvases and created, simultaneously sorting through the challenges of her twelve-year-old life. She discussed problems, and I sometimes helped her decide what to do by sharing my own past situations and offering different solutions. Sometimes she would stop speaking and hold the paintbrush still in her hand because something on her canvas didn’t look right. I pushed my own brush against the palette and showed her new techniques to make it work.
Sometimes Desiree read me her poems and asked for critique. She wants to be a writer someday, and maybe an artist, and maybe a teacher, and maybe a veterinarian, and maybe a hairdresser. “You don’t have to decide on one thing,” I told her, and pulled out copies of magazines colorful with my words and photographs. I point out my paintings on the wall and gesture around to the school counselor’s office. I show her by example there are no walls that can contain her, and she can blend the things she loves.
Authors have used words to share ideas for countless generations, but I think it takes a writer’s art to a higher level when s/he steps out from behind the words and is also an example. When we are gone, our written words will continue to speak for us if we are lucky. However, the impact we make, not just by what we write but by what we do, will influence generations even if our words have not become classics and are lost in mounds of dust.
Even if I don’t become famous or widely read, benefit has already begun. My students knew I write and what my stories are about. I’d shared some in draft form and shown them the finished product later. They were aware when a dear project was sent away and witnessed some of my successes and rejections.
Assertively seeking resources and taking the risk of rejection is my living example. Desiree’s eyes were wide when she realized how much work my writing takes. “What if you’re turned down,” she asked. “Won’t it kill you to have done all that for nothing?”
I explained it’s never “for nothing”. I told her about the mental exercise of writing, about the importance of reaching for dreams and the beauty of believing in something passionately enough to share it. Desiree seemed to work harder after that on her paintings and her poetry. She began to see. Her face shined like a light when she realized anything is possible.
Where do I want my writing career – the one I’ve been working on since I was in elementary school – to go? I want it to keep reaching. I want it to keep gaining momentum and I want – need – the ideas to inspire. I’ve published in many venues and genres; my most recent success selling the environmental novel, “The Starling God”, to Forestry Press of Tennessee. The publisher came out with a print version and an e-book is to follow soon.
I began to think about how differently some students react when they hear books read out loud. I’ve seen their minds and hearts set on fire by stories they never would have chosen to pick up and read with their eyes. This isn't only true for children - adults have different learning styles too. Some have learning differences and can't take information in well via print. Some people are visually impaired. Some people are busy and the only reading time they have is in audio form on the way to work or during a jog etc.
I've scheduled an appointment to create an audio version of "The Starling God". It's a book for adults, and I won't be able to read the story aloud to them in a school building. By having the audio book available, though, people will still be able to experience the story. It's a whole new way for me to step out from behind the printed words.The Starling God
Sometimes Desiree read me her poems and asked for critique. She wants to be a writer someday, and maybe an artist, and maybe a teacher, and maybe a veterinarian, and maybe a hairdresser. “You don’t have to decide on one thing,” I told her, and pulled out copies of magazines colorful with my words and photographs. I point out my paintings on the wall and gesture around to the school counselor’s office. I show her by example there are no walls that can contain her, and she can blend the things she loves.
Authors have used words to share ideas for countless generations, but I think it takes a writer’s art to a higher level when s/he steps out from behind the words and is also an example. When we are gone, our written words will continue to speak for us if we are lucky. However, the impact we make, not just by what we write but by what we do, will influence generations even if our words have not become classics and are lost in mounds of dust.
Even if I don’t become famous or widely read, benefit has already begun. My students knew I write and what my stories are about. I’d shared some in draft form and shown them the finished product later. They were aware when a dear project was sent away and witnessed some of my successes and rejections.
Assertively seeking resources and taking the risk of rejection is my living example. Desiree’s eyes were wide when she realized how much work my writing takes. “What if you’re turned down,” she asked. “Won’t it kill you to have done all that for nothing?”
I explained it’s never “for nothing”. I told her about the mental exercise of writing, about the importance of reaching for dreams and the beauty of believing in something passionately enough to share it. Desiree seemed to work harder after that on her paintings and her poetry. She began to see. Her face shined like a light when she realized anything is possible.
Where do I want my writing career – the one I’ve been working on since I was in elementary school – to go? I want it to keep reaching. I want it to keep gaining momentum and I want – need – the ideas to inspire. I’ve published in many venues and genres; my most recent success selling the environmental novel, “The Starling God”, to Forestry Press of Tennessee. The publisher came out with a print version and an e-book is to follow soon.
I began to think about how differently some students react when they hear books read out loud. I’ve seen their minds and hearts set on fire by stories they never would have chosen to pick up and read with their eyes. This isn't only true for children - adults have different learning styles too. Some have learning differences and can't take information in well via print. Some people are visually impaired. Some people are busy and the only reading time they have is in audio form on the way to work or during a jog etc.
I've scheduled an appointment to create an audio version of "The Starling God". It's a book for adults, and I won't be able to read the story aloud to them in a school building. By having the audio book available, though, people will still be able to experience the story. It's a whole new way for me to step out from behind the printed words.The Starling God
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