For the past three months, I’ve been busting my ass in an Intro to Creative Writing class and a Blogging class. Seriously, I’ve never written so much in such a short span of time. If I didn’t have grad school apps going out while I tried to stay on top of my work, I might have complained a little less during the semester.

That doesn’t matter anymore, because this literary form of boot camp was just what I needed. I’ve come a long way, in many ways. A writer needs confidence, and that was an area that was lacking for me. But when part of your grade involves standing up in front of a class and reading your first drafts out loud to a class of twenty, you get over that faster than one would think. Especially when you witness other people being ripped apart. I no longer feel the urge to throw myself on top of a rough draft anytime someone walks behind me or peeks over my shoulder. Let it suck, and let people tell you what sucks. It makes the next round of revisions easier.

The Holy Grail most sought after by rookie writers- that “perfect first draft”- really is just an object of legends. They just don’t happen, and they really don’t happen when you only have a day and a half to write a new 2-6 page magical realism story either. Oh, you’ve never written magical realism before? Ha.

So now I’m going to stop here, because I need to go fix this personal statement that’s due tomorrow, even though I’d rather get root canal done sans Novacaine than work on it.

Categories: On Writing

Tagged as: blogging class college classes intro to creative writing writer writing

Alyssa Pierce