On writing

I don't in any way consider myself a "writer." Maybe because I think that word encompasses publication. Or maybe it just sounds too pompous. Either way, all I know is that I love to write. But lately I'm finding that my three creative writing classes leave me more than just exhausted by the end of the week. It's like a little bit of my soul has died. Don't get me wrong... I love writing and most of the time, despite the critiques, I'm proud of my work. But when your pieces get workshopped 2+ times a week, you're writing over 4,000 words a week (on top of trying to journal and maintain friendly email correspondence), and you're still taking other classes, you're half dead by the end of the week. 

It's all I can do not to curl up in a ball and sleep away the weekend. But just recently I read some great quotes by writers and felt inspired again. 

Fantastic quotes from famous writers:

“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” 
― Mark Twain

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” 
― Mark Twain

“Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.” 
― Kurt Vonnegut

“Writing is like sex. First you do it for love, then you do it for your friends, and then you do it for money.”
― Virginia Woolf

“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” 
― Stephen King

“Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters.”
― Neil Gaiman

“The first draft of anything is shit.” 
― Ernest Hemingway

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” 
― Ernest Hemingway

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” 
― Anaïs Nin

“Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” 
― E.L. Doctorow

“You must write every single day of your life... You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads... may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.” 
― Ray Bradbury

“You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” 
― Jack London

“Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.” 
― F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Stories may well be lies, but they are good lies that say true things, and which can sometimes pay the rent.” 
― Neil Gaiman

“I write differently from what I speak, I speak differently from what I think, I think differently from the way I ought to think, and so it all proceeds into deepest darkness.” 
― Franz Kafka

“Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.” 
― Stephen King

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.” 
― George Orwell

Introspect

Religion is a realization—not talk, not doctrine, nor theories, however beautiful these may be. Religion is being and becoming, not hearing and acknowledging. It is not an intellectual ascent –but the transformation of one’s whole life

--Swami Vivekandanda

So, if that is true, then I must ask myself: what have I become?

Restless night

It's in these moments that I can't sleep, can't seem to make myself study, and can't seem to understand people, or even myself, I do the one thing I can.


I write.

Breathe Deep the Gathering Gloom

Finals are coming. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

You've Got Mail

"I turn on my computer. I wait impatiently as it connects. I go online, and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words: You've got mail."

I must admit... I miss letters. Nothing will ever compare to writing letters, but in the age of technology with Twitter and Facebook becoming the new areas of communication, one of my favorite things is getting an email. A genuine, personalized email. Whether its someone telling me they miss me, or about that person's day, or literally about nothing, like Meg Ryan's character Kathleen Kelly said:

“I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings”

To those that I have been fortunate enough to speak with, thanks for making my day so often.

On Politics

Let’s pretend this is the intro to one of those self help meetings. Hi, my name is Devon. (Hi, Devon!) And I’ve gone six months without smacking my head against a wall because of someone's political rant. (Yay! *clapping*)

So here’s the deal: politics. We’re all aware that the election is coming up soon. It’s on every tv station, newspaper, coming out of the mouth of every self-claimed, so-called “informed” person (and one or two Google searches, I'm sorry to say, does not make you informed). I used to be a political science minor and avid debate member. I understand how politics is both fascinating and aggressive. But the latter has become a serious problem. It's the reason I no longer enjoy politics. 

Let me elaborate.

In the last few weeks, I’ve heard a lot of comments: about the debates such as the “binders full of women,” how “the 80s called, they want their foreign policy back,” and how we no longer use “bayonets and horses.” (All lines that maybe shouldn’t have been said). Also about random details about each candidate--some relevant, some not. 

However, what bothers me most about the political activism around election time is the ANIMOSITY and NEED TO BE RIGHT when people argue. No, people are not debating, not trying to sway a person to their side. They are simply trying to tear people’s opinions down and assert their own as correct. It seems a little bit fascist, no?

And here I am, sitting here thinking:

1) What’s the point? Someone will win. That someone will be criticized and scorned just as every president before has been. No majority will ever be happy.

2) And some people wonder why world peace is unattainable?

There’s explicit lack of respect when it comes to politics. Oh, people will laugh and joke when they “debate,” but there’s contempt for their opponents/friends in their eyes. What is it about politics that can make you suddenly hold contempt (no matter how fleeting) for a human being that you don't know at all, or for one you care deeply about?

It’s like if I went up to a person for only 5 minutes and interviewed them. “Oh hey, Ben. So you’re a business major, huh? Oh… you like to snowboard as a hobby? That makes you unprofessional. I don’t think you’ll be a good businessman.”

This is what politics have come down to. Petty judgments. If there must be judging, judge on policies.

And even then, just be nice. Please. It’s getting ridiculous. I can’t wait for the election to be over. But then again, we all know that’s just the beginning of another string of repeated events. 

I think I’m just going to move back to Europe.

Those moments in life

When you laugh hysterically because of your good fortune. I wrote a free verse poetry piece for my creative writing class in 15 minutes (forgot it was due) and then got this email. I think I finally found the perfect minor for me.

The email I got from my teacher. This is all it said:

You say you’re terrible at poetry.
I say you’re kidding me.
Yours is the best poetry of the week.
Would it read it in class?