When I say I'm majoring in English, 90% of people ask me, "Oh, so you want to teach?" And I always feel sheepish when I tell people, "No, I want to be a writer."
Maybe I feel sheepish because I write more about writing than anything. Or maybe because I halfway don't believe my ultimate dream will ever come true, because it would be too good to be true. Living above my bakery-bookstore in a quiet English town or a noisy American city, scribbling poems in a dog-eared notebook at a coffeeshop, recording music in a studio, owning a tabby cat, being indebted to my editor, posting audio chapters of Wynna on my website, and sending friends and acquaintances autographed copies of my book would be too good to be true.
Maybe this isn't a feeling of sheepishness but of selfishness.
How do I spread hope with poems about my emotions and stir hearts with stories about dragons and princesses? And do hope and heart-stirring mean as much to me as all the rest?
I think the best way to make an impact in the world through your writing is to become the exact type of writer you want to be, in the exact place, writing what you truly want to write with all your heart. Not what you feel like you *should* write. There is already enough fake-y feeling-good stuff in the world! You should pursue your exact dream with no fear of what others think! When you are free yourself, you can more easily free others. That's what I think! :3
ReplyDeletePS. People always tell me I should become an art teacher too. I think...... maybe, heartily, utterly, no.
I think you're right, esp about all the fake-y stuff that already exists, and that *when you are free yourself, you can more easily free others.* You declared what my brain was nebulously musing about--and now I need to put it into action.
DeleteMaybe we don't have teacherness like Karen does!