The National Undergraduate Literature Conference

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the National Undergraduate Literature Conference at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. At this conference, undergrads present fiction, poetry, non-fiction and literary criticism in panels that deal with the same genre or similar subjects. There are also guest authors that come to address the students and revel in the literary richness of it all.

Two of the authors that came to visit this year were Lawson Fusao Inada and Ana Menendez. I very much enjoyed their writing, but they also gave interesting insights to the writing process.

Inada encouraged us to carry a notebook or anything to write down thoughts and inspiration whenever they come. He actually suggested carrying around an extra register in your checkbook because it is much less bulky and more convenient. I've been told to do this by several writing professors of other writers, but I've never quite adopted it. In high school I carried around a fat little notebook in which to write emo poetry, but since I've come to college I haven't been so great at it. And I know that I have lost so many half-formed poems and ideas for stories or resolutions to struggles I was having with characters or plots in stories that I'm working on. Perhaps it was the simplicity of the checkbook suggestion. Perhaps it was Inada's amiable nature. Perhaps it was being around so many great minds and so much literature. Perhaps it was a number of things. But this time, I really felt a need to follow the advice.

There are clearly huge advantages to carrying around an observation notebook:

• Being able to captures ideas on the spot
• Being able to write down bits of conversation as you hear them
• Writing lines of a poem as they form
• Compiling ideas to use at a future time

Menendez gave advice that is somewhat new to me: write to the pain. I'm pretty sure that my creative writing teacher in high school may have said something to the same effect, but I questioned her sanity and probably didn't take her seriously. But Menendez suggested that where it is painful is where there is the most meat, so to speak, to write from. Whether it is emotional pain, as in writing about a personally painful experience, or mental pain, as in a concept you can't quite articulate or research that doesn't quite come to a conclusion, that is probably where all the gold in your writing will be mined from. I believe that writing to the pain is more satisfying in the end as well.

Pain is just another form of passion and we all know that passionate writing is better in every aspect than bored writing. For example, my social psychology textbook is probably the most entertaining textbook I've ever read, and I'm certain that is because the authors engage their emotions and personalities in the text. I practically feel like I'm on a first name basis with them.

I hope to improve my writing by implementing these two techniques I learned at the feet of two masters. Or at least two published authors (I did highly enjoy their writing).

What am I doing?

Here it is, my blog that's all about being a creative writer, but realizing I can't live off that and trying to figure out some other form of manipulating the English language that will make me happy and make me money, because as Orwell so deftly wrote: "Money writes books, money sells them."

I always knew that there was a very small chance I could make a living from writing books. Regardless, I chose to complete my undregraduate degree in creative writing, and as for money...I'd figure that out at some point.

Then I had an academic paper accepted to the National Undergraduate Literature Conference held annually at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. "People want to read academic papers? Is this profitable?" I thought. Maybe. That's when I started considering other writing options.

Shortly after that, I had the opportunity to edit a book for an author (Jay Jarvie) who was self-publishing. And I loved it. I've spent loads of time at college editing papers for my roommates and friends, and enjoyed it, but suddenly it occured to me that I could probably do that for a long time without getting bored. As a result of this editing experience, I am taking one extra semester of undergraduate studies in order to take some editing classes.

I've also been considering journalism for a long time. This stems mostly from my love of movies, and the inkling of becoming a movie critic. So this semester I am writing for my school's newspaper, The Scroll, in the sports section.
 
So this blog will be all about me figuring out just what the professional writing world can offer me, and how I hold on to my creative side while I adjust to the professional side. I'll explore editing and journalism and whatever else comes my way. This blog is for anyone else facing the same dilemma of trying to fit into the professional world, when all they really want to do is invent a world of their own.

I'm trying on the professional writing world. Seeing if it fits. After all, I do enjoy wearing slacks.