Posted by Oliver Diaz, Former Contributor and Fiction Reader for Issue 4.1
The truth is writers (besides Stephen King) cannot survive on writing alone due to their limited ability to pump out a plethora of valuable literary works, and ultimately, the meager financial compensation. When a writer has another job, another commitment, another pot on the stove, writing takes the back burner. As a student, I rearrange reading, writing papers, and going to class on my stovetop, and writing remains relegated to the back of the stove. Why? Well, my schedule tells me when to show up for class, and when to leave. I have to do my work before class, so although the time frame is not exact, it is narrowed. If writers don’t decide (and yes, the responsibility is on us) on a timeframe to sit down and write, how can we expect ourselves to show up?
The writer’s most feared question is, “Have you been writing lately?” Often the response is, “I will once I find the time,” or “I’m going to find time this weekend.” Well, one day I found myself on the receiving end of this question and took the predicted way out. The inquiring artist looked at me with a knowing stare, and said, “We don’t find time, we make time.” Of course, I thought to myself, time is not hiding around corners, behind bushes, or at the bottom of the laundry basket, I am making time, as in “Sure, I can make time for that.”
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Last year, I realized my writing was getting really boring. After two years of creative writing workshops, all the fiction I came out with was starting to sound the same to me. The plots changed, but the main characters were always witty and sarcastic and trying to figure something out about themselves. Basically, they were me. Eventually, I started having the same problem with the music I wrote for my composition major; everything sounded the same. Continue reading