Thoughts on Screen - Little Red Hoodie

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I had originally planned to set Wednesdays as my media day where I would be posting different forms of my poetry, be it video, audio or pictures, but I'm going to shake that up a bit. After much thought, I've decided to make my short story, Little Red Hoodie into a book and I will be sharing my thoughts on the process. As I've said ad nauseum, I don't see myself as a writer and that mental block gets in the way of creating stories and being a writer.

When I think of writers, I think of Hemmingway, Patterson and locally, Joanne C. Hillhouse, and I know that they have spent years and years honing their craft. Then I look at myself and think "I'm a poet, I've done my time honing my craft, how dare I attempt to write stories?" or "I don't know the craft, I don't know how to build characters or develop plots, I don't know the technicalities of writing." In a nutshell, I feel overwhelmed because on one level, I don't think I should be writing anything or taking anything to market.

Now being overwhelmed for me can be a good thing or a bad thing. Good where as I reach rock bottom then I fight to prove others and myself wrong. Bad: I just don't do it (so not Nike). The great thing is I feel I'm going the route of the good thing.

No, I have never studied to be a writer.
No, I have not attended many writer's workshops (only went to one)
No, I don't have the confidence to submit any of my work to literary journals and get my work out

But something in me insists I write stories. Something connects words and pictures in my head and urges me to put the stories on paper and share them. I would liken it to a natural spring. Sometimes when I write poems that seem so real, I feel like I was able to tap into someone's life and tell their story. I tell one moment in their lives that normally would disappear and be forgotten and somehow I was able to get it and share it with many people. I think that is powerful.

I remember when I was visiting family in Jamaica a long time ago. I had gone into an empty bedroom and I had a writing pad or something. I started writing a story and when I reached a point, I didn't know where to go with the story and I stopped. Only recently, I discovered that the secret was to keep writing and the story will flow. Most times the stories write themselves.

I know writing in this day and age is not only putting words on paper. That is just part of the bigger picture and one might think that it is a lonesome profession but that is far from the truth. There are the editors, agents, cover artists, publishers, forms of distribution: bookstores, libraries, etc. But you know what, I now take the stance:

 

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I may not be a writer now, but I will be. It may take me a year, 5 years, 10 years but I will become a writer and I will be a good writer.

Thanks for reading and have an amazing week.